NHS Dorset - South West SHA

Key focus/scope

The Dorset pilot will focus on long term conditions. In particular, it aims to provide individuals with continuing healthcare needs and neurological conditions (including acquired brain injury, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis) with an opportunity to direct their own healthcare related support. Consideration will also be given to end of life care.

Overview of pilot and its purpose

The outcomes NHS Dorset hope to achieve are:

• the development of person-centred healthcare integrated with social care and other partners, driven by the patient
• to provide better services in very rural settings where the patient is in control of accessing service provision and can use the resource innovatively
• to reduce inequalities of life expectancy and health outcomes by targeting priority areas of social deprivation with the poorest health outcomes
• to provide informed and supported choice for patients about how best to meet their healthcare needs as a part of a whole lifestyle in conjunction with PCT partners
• to support the NHS self care strategy
• to develop innovative models of care for patients, integrated with other agencies
• to promote social inclusion
• to test the methodology of the pilot and whether personal budgets controlled by individual patients have contributed to improving quality of life, improved health and social inclusion
• to develop a framework, in line with Research Governance, to evaluate, monitor and report on the pilot.

Objectives of pilot

The pilot aims to:

• Produce recommendations on how systems could be adapted to allow for personal health budgets to be offered across both health and social care
• Support the development of personal health plans using person centred planning principles ensuring they meet the needs of an individual for a personal health budget
• Identify the range of support needs that an individual, their family and/or carers will need when planning and acquiring services using a personal health budget and ensuring these are in place
• Identify the skills required of individuals who may be supporting people to plan how they will use their personal health budget to acquire services
• Develop a wide range of service provision that could be made available to meet an individual's needs when using a personal health budget
• Ensure service users, families, carers and a wide and vibrant stakeholder group are able to influence the development of personal health budgets
• Identify the needs of the wider area workforce in understanding and learning about personal health budgets.

This information has been provided by NHS Dorset.