Flexible Purchasing System for the delivery of Individual Service Funds (ISFs) / Third Party Personal Health Budgets

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<p>Stockport Council and Stockport CCG are seeking applications from providers who wish to join a Flexible Purchasing System (aka approved provider list) for the delivery of Individual Service Funds (ISFs) / Third Party Personal Health Budgets. ISFs are one type of personal budget and have been used as a way of commissioning social care services in the UK since 1996. Uptake is low in comparison to direct payment personal budgets. They have primarily been successfully used to support people with more complex needs for whom traditional time and task domiciliary care provision does not work well, or for those who do not wish (or do not have the capacity) to take on the responsibilities of having a direct payment. Also, in 2014, those eligible for Continuing Healthcare and Children’s Continuing Care were given the “right to have” a Personal Health Budget (PHB) and these could be provided as either a notional budget, direct payments or Third Party Budget (a ‘Third Party’ in this case being an organisation other than the health service, that is responsible for managing the budget and delivering care). For the purpose of this service specification, we are treating the terms ISFs and Third Party PHBs as the same thing. Only the organisation that is funding the arrangement differs. For the rest of the service specification for ease of purpose we will call both arrangements ISFs. However, please bear in mind that this Service Specification should be of interest to both existing ISF / Third Party Personal Health Budgets providers as well as any organisations who may be interested in developing their service offer to included ISF / Third Party services. Interested parties may include: • Existing Individual Service Fund providers • Existing Third Party Personal Health Budget providers • Domiciliary or Nursing care providers • NHS Trusts • Community and Voluntary organisations – both those who deliver CQC-regulated services and those who do not.</p> Keywords: individual service funds, care, support, personal health budget, personal budget