Figures sourced under the Freedom of Information Act show that across 162 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, just 2,986 out of 53,611 Continuing Healthcare patients had opted to receive PHBs.
For more see Sentinel news blog
Commenting on this story Disability Rights UK Deputy CEO said:
“Disabled people have been campaigning for years to have choice and control over our lives and decide how our support needs are met. Personal health budgets have to be seen in that context.
It is a pity they are finally being introduced at a time of cutbacks but it would be wrong to say personal health budgets are only being introduced to achieve cuts.
Just ask yourself what you would want to happen to you if say you developed a condition like MS? Wouldn’t you want control over your life rather than be fitted into a one size fits all service?
The reason the numbers are so low is not because people don’t want PHBs but because CCGs just can’t move away from ‘doctor knows best’ mentality.”