wheelchair NHS personal budgets

NHS England has published a report setting out the findings from work undertaken by pilot sites to test a currency model for wheelchair services. The project was co-ordinated and managed for NHS England by North & East London CSU.

The report is being published in order to make the wheelchair currencies available for everyone to use in 2017/18.  More detailed guidance on how to do this will be published later in the year. NHS England will then invite feedback from those areas that decide to use the currencies, which will help us to refine the currency model further.

North & East London CSU was engaged by NHS England to test the validity of a set of proposed currencies which were developed by Deloitte in 2013 for the Department of Health along with some draft tariffs.  The report of 2013 asserted the need for a currency model broken down by four bundles of activity; assessment, equipment, review and repair and maintenance.

The report sets out an indicative appraisal on the proposed currencies and draft tariffs following data collections from eight providers who participated in the pilot programme.  The report includes comparisons with reference cost data (financial years 2014/15), pilot site submissions, the proposed Deloitte tariffs and makes suggestions for improvements for future iterations to NHS England in taking forward the currency model.

The key suggested recommendations arising from the pilot programme are:

  • Extend the pilot programme for a further six months to enable additional data collection
  • Increase the number of providers in the pilot to enable the collection of a more representative and meaningful sample
  • Further refinement to be made to the definitions of the equipment currencies.

You can see a copy of the report HERE

AT TODAY UPDATES
Over 7,000 healthcare professionals stay informed about the latest assistive technology with AT Today. Do you?
We respect your privacy