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 co nstraints imposed on psychiatry. Aims To examine the average costs per patient of the experimental and contr ol group services. Method 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 se rvices over a 12-month period, had fewer acute readmissions and spent less time in acute in-patient units. There were significantly different levels a nd patterns of resource consumption between the groups and between the two separate catchment areas. Conclusion The cost analysis should be assessed in the context of the previ ous outcome analysis. It is likely but not; inevitable, that such units wil l increase the overall costs of care provision; this largely depends on the effectiveness with which such units are integrated into existing care prov ision. Declaration of interest Support received from the North Staffordshire Healt h Authority and the Combined Health Care North Staffordshire NHS Trust.