USING NATURALISTIC AND ECONOMIC-EVALUATION TO ASSIST SERVICE PLANNING- A CASE-STUDY IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM

This article reports the results of a case study that evaluated a psyc hogeriatric service in the United Kingdom The case study was an attemp t to develop a methodology combining naturalistic and scientific appro aches to assist the management of a public sector service. Use was mad e of stakeholder analysis and naturalistic evaluation to complement an economic, cost effectiveness analysis to enable a service strategy to be developed. The approach was found to be of benefit in the areas of extending access to decision making and improving the information use d but was expensive to support and required a high level of commitment and a willingness to compromise from all stakeholders.