North Staffordshire Community Beds Study: longitudinal evaluation of psychiatric in-patient units attached to community mental health centres. 2: Impact upon costs and resource use.
BACKGROUND
Innovative approaches to the provision of psychiatric care must justify their ability to improve the quality of life within the resource constraints imposed on psychiatry.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the average costs per patient of the experimental and control group services.


METHODS
An individual patient costing methodology that identified, measured and valued all public and private resources.


RESULTS
The experimental group was more likely to remain in contact with services over a 12-month period, had fewer acute readmissions and spent less time in acute in-patient units. There were significantly different levels and patterns of resource consumption between the groups and between the two separate catchment areas.


CONCLUSIONS
The cost analysis should be assessed in the context of the previous outcome analysis. It is likely, but not inevitable, that such units will increase the overall costs of care provision; this largely depends on the effectiveness with which such units are integrated into existing care provision.
Haycox
A
A
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Liverpool.
Unsworth
L
L
Allen
K
K
Hodgson
R
R
Lewis
M
M
Boardman
A P
AP
D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004739:England; D017048:Health Care Costs; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000191:economics; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector; D011788:Quality of Life