We began to design a new Sefton wide policy during 2015 that sets out our approach to offering residents a personal health budget, or PHB.

This policy details who might be eligible for a PHB, how we will assess their application and what support people can expect from their local NHS if they choose take up the offer of this type of funding.

We worked with Sefton Carers Centre during February 2016 to gain comments about our planned approach to introducing our new policy.

Sefton Carers Centre spoke with eligible residents across the borough and asked for their views and experiences of PHBs. People were also asked for their ideas about the information leaflets we have produced to support greater awareness of PHBs.   

This exercise also helped us to understand people’s awareness of their ‘right to have’ a PHB and we will use the findings to help us better promote people’s rights around PHBs in the future.

You can see what people thought by reading Sefton Carers Centre’s full report.   

What are PHBs?

A PHB is an allocation of NHS funding which patients, after an assessment and planning with their medical team, are able to personally control and use for the services they choose to support their health needs.

The aim is to give patients and their carers more choice and control in managing their health in a way that’s better suited to their lives.

Who is eligible?

Since April 2014 people who are eligible have had the ‘right to ask’ for PHB funding, including by way of a direct payment.

From October 2014, the ‘right to ask’ became a ‘right to have’ a PHB.

You can find our approved policy in the get informed section of this website, along with more information about eligibility and key contacts.  

Visit the ‘How we use your views’ section for examples of where your feedback has informed our work, plans and strategies.