Eight Primary Care Trusts will begin to road test direct payments for personal health budgets. This will allow Primary Care Trusts to give the money for someones care directly to them, allowing individuals to decide how, where and from whom they receive their healthcare, in partnership with the local NHS.

Previously, personal health budgets could only be held by a Primary Care Trust or third party.

The cost of providing direct payments will come from existing funding within PCTs. Direct payments can be paid to patients in a number of ways, including monthly direct payments or a lump sum for a one off purchase such as a piece of equipment.

The scheme is designed to help individuals with a range of health conditions including people with diabetes, stroke, heart disease, end of life care and mental health conditions.

People can use their personal budgets in a number of ways. For example, one patient who suffers from chronic pain following removal of a spinal tumour uses her personal health budget for long term, extensive massage and hydrotherapy sessions to relieve chronic pain without the side effects of painkilling drugs, drowsiness and disorientation.

Another patients personal budget enabled him to spend his last few months at home with his daughter and grandchildren. The budget was used to provide flexible care while his daughter was at work, rather than the more traditional four times a day short visits.

Piloting direct payments is part of wider programme testing personal health budgets. More PCTs will be authorised to offer direct payments over the coming year. The pilot programme will inform decisions around how to proceed with wider, more general roll-out.

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said:

This is an important step towards putting patients at the heart of everything the NHS does.

Direct payments have real potential to improve the lives of individuals with long-term health needs by putting treatment choices in their hands. That is why we are driving forward the commitment in the Coalition Agreement to extend access.

There is strong evidence from the social care sector that direct payments help achieve better outcomes, and give people more choice and control over the care they receive. It also encourages a more preventative approach. It is a step away from the rigidity of the Primary Care Trusts deciding what services a patient will receive.

Direct payments will not work for everyone or for all patient groups or services, but we want to identify whether, for whom and how they could offer an opportunity to help achieve the best health and wellbeing outcomes. That is why we are developing this pilot programme.

It will stop healthcare from slipping back to the days of one-dimensional, like-it-or-lump-it services.