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There has been substantial research on the implementation of personal budgets across adult social care in England, but relatively little exploration of take-up within the field of mental health--and whether personal budgets are providing an effective mechanism for service users to exercise greater power, choice and control in their lives. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with fifty-two people using mental-health-related social care services and twenty-eight social work and other practitioners, undertaken for a national study in 2010-13, this paper explores experiences from their different perspectives. Inter-views were undertaken in three English local authorities which were at different stages of implementing personal budgets in mental health social care. Data were analysed using an Interpretive Framework Approach. The findings provide evidence of how personal budgets may deliver opportunities for people to take more power and control, sometimes collaboratively with practitioners, and also identify some of the barriers and challenges which can militate against such outcomes. A key factor in enabling personal budgets to support empowerment and recovery was reported to be the quality and continuity of the professional relationship--which raises particular implications for the organisation of mental health social work and the organisational cultures within which this is situated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is substantial common ground between the ideas of self-directed support and recovery, there are also significant differences in how these ideas have been implemented in policy and practice. This paper develops an 'ideal type' model of how personal budgets may need to be set up for people with mental health difficulties if they are to be effective as a mechanism that can enable recovery. Aspects of this 'ideal type' model are then examined in relation to the reported experiences of people accessing personal budgets from a national study of the implementation of personal budgets in mental health in England. In-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken across three local authority areas with fifty-three people with serious mental health difficulties who had accessed personal budgets in 2012-13. Our findings suggest that personal budgets can support recovery thinking and processes, and can be used to mobilise relevant resources to make this possible. Key to achieving this can be co-productive and/or peer-supported processes of assessment and planning. In addition, resource allocation may need to be flexible to take account of fluctuating levels of mental distress, and budgets should be linked to recovery goals rather than assuming long-term care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how role boundaries and professional priorities in integrated mental health teams have impacted on the implementation of personalised approaches to social care support. We focus on the use of personal budgets to meet mental health-related social care needs as a key mechanism for personalised care. Drawing on 28 qualitative interviews with mental health practitioners from three local authorities in England undertaken in 2013, we report nurses’, social workers’, and occupational therapists’ attitudes towards, and engagement with, personal budgets. Professional boundaries and competing priorities heavily influenced the extent to which personal budgets were perceived as a legitimate part of their roles. Across different professional groups, a sense emerged that personal budgets should be somebody else’s job. A focus on attention to treatment, stability, and risk management often resulted in low prioritisation of personal budgets and led practitioners to avoid recommending them or to exclude service users from the process as a way to save time. Implications of the dominant medical model and the protection of traditional professional roles for the implementation of new, person-centred models of practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: In England, personal budgets are offered to eligible people with severe mental health problems to enable them to purchase what is helpful for their quality of life or recovery. However, in-depth insight into people's own perceptions of the outcomes is lacking. Aims: To investigate people's own reporting of outcomes from using personal budgets in relation to social care needs arising from severe mental health problems. Method: A convenience sample of 47 individuals receiving personal budgets was recruited from three English local authorities. In-depth semi-structured interviews were subject to thematic framework analysis. Results: Most participants identified positive outcomes across domains interconnected through individual life circumstances, with mental health and wellbeing, social participation and relationships, and confidence and skills most commonly reported. Some needed more support than others to identify goals and make use of the personal budget to take a more active part in the society. Conclusions: Personal budgets can enable people to achieve outcomes that are relevant to them in the context of their lives, particularly through enhancing their wellbeing and social participation. Consideration should be given to distinguishing those individuals potentially requiring more support for engagement from those who can engage more independently to identify and pursue their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]