Pilot on one off personal health budget for mental health

A personal health budget involves a number of partners, this includes health and care, and the voluntary and community sector.

A personal health budget for mental health can be used by people who:

• Are currently an inpatient at Lynfield Mount Hospital, Airedale Centre for Mental Health or in an ‘out of area’ bed but normally reside in Bradford District or Craven
• Are currently accessing support from secondary care mental health services from Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, have a multi-agency care plan (three or more services involved) and at risk of being admitted or severely becoming unwell.

The personal health budget is not means tested therefore providing you are under the above services, you will be eligible to make an application – please speak to a member of staff for a form.

View the journey map to a personal health budget.

The one off personal health budget can be used for personalised recovery goals, the following items are excluded from the personal health budget:

• An item or service prohibited by the NHS (direct payments) Regulations 2013 (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, debt payment, or anything that is illegal)
• Buying medication
• Dental care services provided by primary care (high street dentists)

Our success story so far for the personal health budget, can be seen in this infographic (February 2024 to July 2025) – please note we will update this graphic as we receive the latest figures.

Below are our evaluation reports for the first six months, these are:

• Report one: evaluation – key findings
• Report two: overview summary of findings
• Report three: findings from interviews with patients / service users who have had a personal health budget
  – Appendices:
  1. Personal health budget application form
  2. Personal health budget patient / carer information booklet or you can view the Word version of the personal health budget patient / carer information booklet
  3. Personal health budget patient poster
  4. Person health budget staff poster
• Report four: findings from interviews with staff at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Report five: findings from interviews with staff across the Bradford District and craven health and social care

The Individual Placement and Support Employment service (IPS) at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust partners up with the Personal Health Budget Team, a team who supports people to achieve specific goals. This collaboration between IPS and the Personal Health Budget Team, has provided personalised support and funding which helps individuals overcome barriers to employment, a key factor in mental health recovery and wellbeing. Anyone with a multi-agency care plan (this involves three or more services involved in the individuals care) within IPS is able to access the personal health budget.

Case studies

We have put together four videos, three of the videos are case studies from individuals who talk about the benefits of having access to personal health budgets. The fourth video is from the IPS service manager, who talks about what IPS is and how the service has worked with the team and supported individuals with their recovery.

Case study one: how a laptop has helped an individual look for employment and build their computer skills:

Case study two: how photochromic glasses helped an individual look for employment, attend interviews and appointments:

Case study three: how a travel pass helped an individual to get to their place of work:

Partnership work between Individual Placement and Support Employment service and the Personal Health Budget Team: