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Variations in the costs of child and adolescent psychiatric in-patient units

Jennifer Beecham1, Daniel Chisholm, Anne O'Herlihy

  • 1Centre for the Economics of Mental Health (CEMH), Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. J.Beecham@iop.kcl.ac.uk

The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science
|September 2, 2003
PubMed

Insights

Child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient units are costly, with personnel accounting for most expenses. Understanding cost variations is crucial for effective commissioning of these specialized mental health services.

Area of Science:

  • Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Health Economics
  • Mental Health Services Research

Background:

  • Child and adolescent inpatient care is a specialized service lacking routine national data collection.
  • Effective planning requires understanding the economic landscape of these services.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To estimate the unit costs of child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient units.
  • To analyze the variations in costs among these units.

Main Methods:

  • Data collected via a national survey, with cost estimations based on economic theory.
  • Bivariate and multivariate analyses used to identify key cost drivers.

Main Results:

  • Mean cost per inpatient day was £197 (1999-2000 prices) across 58 units.
  • Personnel costs constitute two-thirds of total expenditures.
  • Management sector, provision type, capacity, and location explained nearly half of cost variations.

Conclusions:

  • Child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient units represent a significant financial investment.
  • A fourfold variation in costs per inpatient day was observed.
  • Analyzing cost variations can inform and optimize commissioning strategies for mental health services.
Abstract

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