title: Valuing telecare using willingness to pay from the perspective of carers for people with dementia: a pilot study from the West Midlands.
abstract: We carried out a cost-benefit analysis of the STAY telecare service (Sandwell Telecare Assisting You) for unpaid carers of people with dementia in the West Midlands. This was done from the perspective of the carers. We employed the willingness to pay (WTP) approach, an established economic method to quantify the benefits of healthcare. A questionnaire was given to 87 unpaid carers of people with dementia, and 34 completed questionnaires were returned (39%). Two WTP question designs were used (open-ended and bounded style). The annual mean WTP for telecare was £242-310 per person. Carers offered higher values if the cared-for person was suffering from moderate dementia. Carers offered WTP values that were similar to the resource costs of providing telecare services. The pilot study suggests that the provision of telecare for unpaid carers of people with dementia is beneficial to society.
authors.affiliation: NHS Birmingham CrossCity, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stephen
authors.forename: Hamira
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sultan
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Frew
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003704:Dementia / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000191:economics*; D006113:United Kingdom