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NHS Confederation statement on Health Secretary's announcement on personal budgets
"If the power of personal budgets is to stick in the hands of patients, we need to be realistic about how big a change this is and address some major practical and cultural barriers.
"In order to exploit the opportunities of personalised budgets we need to address the fears of clinicians that it may be unethical to allow people to choose treatments and services with no evidence base yet these are exactly the things many patients want. At the same time, patients want to maintain a good working relationship with the clinicians who support them.
"Addressing all these issues won't simply be solved by making personal budgets available. There are many other things that need to be done to if we are to really make change stick.
"From the Department of Health down to the consulting room, we will need to work really hard on building the evidence base and changing attitudes so power is genuinely devolved to patients."
Notes to Editors
The NHS Confederation is the only body to bring together the full range of organisations that make up the modern NHS. We are an independent membership organisation that represents all types of providers and commissioners of NHS services in England. We also represent trusts and health care boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
Find out more about the NHS Confederation's work on personal health budgets here
Contact Francesca Reville 020 7074 3312 or Niall Smith 020 7074 3304. For out of hours media enquiries, please call the Duty Press Officer on 07880 500726.
