Find support near you
Signpost UK
We're a brokerage service to help you plan how to spend your personal health budget.
We support you to put your personalised care and support plan together. Together we’ll agree on the right support provider to meet your needs. We’ll find out costs and negotiate to get the best deal for you.
When the plan is put together, we’ll send it to the Clinical Commissioning Group to approve. We regularly review spending against the plan and check that you are getting the support that you need.
Having a broker can help people choose the right support. It can seem like an easy thing to do, but a lot of the people we work with don't have the confidence or know how to pursue it. Everyone we work with will have a long-term condition or disability so if an individual is unwell they may also not have the strength or capacity to do it on their own.
Accessing a personal health budget within these areas automatically gives them the support that they may need to take those steps, if they feel they need it. The broker also supports them with all the paperwork involved in order to be considered for a personal health budget - this in itself can be daunting.
We have helped many people with their personal health budgets, including one individual who has benefitted hugely by joining a gym:
Where we work
We’re currently working in two areas:
- South Kent Coast
- Wandsworth and Merton.
We are commissioned by the Clinical Commissioning Groups to provide support to people who have access to a personal health budget.
We will support you to create your personalised care and support plan. Together we'll agree on the right support provider to meet your needs. We'll then find out costs and negotiate to get the best deal for you.
What is a personal health budget?
A personal health budget is an amount of money to support your identified health and wellbeing needs. You’ll have a care and support plan that is agreed by you and the local NHS team.
The aim of a personal health budget is to give you greater choice, flexibility and control over your health care and support and to reduce reliance on traditional health services.
You may use your personal health budget to buy services not traditionally commissioned by the NHS. This may be things like:
- Different ways of losing weight.
- Ways to increase your mobility such as dance classes, swimming or using exercise bikes.
- Alternative therapies to help with pain control, which may reduce the medication you take. Such as hydrotherapy, aromatherapy or reflexology.
- Special equipment to manage your long-term condition, improve mental wellbeing or improve self-esteem.
Help to manage the budget
Having control over your money is a great thing. Some people may lack the capacity to manage the budget themselves or may not want to.
We can look after the funds on your behalf. This is called a managed account. We will make sure your money is being used on the things agreed in your personalised care and support plan.
Am I eligible to get support from you?
- South Kent Coast
You need to live in the catchment area and have a long-term disability or condition. - Wandsworth and Merton
You need to be a resident of Wandsworth Council and Merton Council and have a learning disability.
How do I get your help?
We receive referrals from health professionals such as GPs, care managers and health trainers. They will fill out a referral form with you and send it to us.
If you need advice about how to access a personal health budget, you can get in contact with us.