Cost consequences of home-based and in-patient-based acute psychiatric treatment: Results of an implementation study

Abstract

Home treatment for acute mental illness is known to have advantages for some service users over hospital-based approaches. Generalisation from short term research studies to sustainable services in ordinary settings has been difficult. A service level and individual matched pairs ( n =58 x 2) study in North Birmingham indicated that home treatment can be developed with neutral cost-consequences. During the 6-week and 6-month follow-up periods users from the implementation team area had higher use of community-based care and lower use of hospital-based care compared to matched users from the control area. The combination of adding a home treatment team and halving the number of inpatient beds was, when compared to a control area, associated with (a) additional numbers of people receiving acute care (b) a lower cost per individual and (c) no difference in overall service cost.