Offering a defence of Personal Health Budgets (PHBs) is always an interesting challenge for me. Between 2003 and 2009 I ran In Control, which pioneered personal budgets and I was part of early discussions to extend personal budgets to the NHS. However I resigned from In Control after a disagreement with my board (chaired by Jo Williams of CQC fame) which rested, as best I understand it, on my critical attitude towards Government. Since 2010 much of my work has focused on defending the welfare state from our extreme right-wing Government.
So, as you might imagine, my views on the topic of Personal Health Budgets (PHBs) are complex, but to simplify:
Sometimes it is helpful to individualise healthcare funding and give control to the person or their agent. So, as PHBs do provide this option, I support them. As Vidhya Alakeson, one of the most intelligent advocates of PHBs, puts it:
