Cost-effectiveness of telecare for people with social care needs: the Whole Systems Demonstrator cluster randomised trial

Catherine Henderson, Martin Knapp, Jose Luis Fernandez, Jennifer Beecham, Shashivadan P. Hirani, Michelle Beynon, Martin Cartwright, Lorna Rixon, Helen Doll, Peter Bower, Adam Steventon, Anne Rogers, Ray Fitzpatrick, James Barlow, Martin Bardsley and Stanton P. Newman

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Purpose of the study: to examine the costs and cost-effectiveness of ‘second-generation’ telecare, in addition to standard support and care that could include ‘first-generation’ forms of telecare, compared with standard support and care that could include ‘first-generation’ forms of telecare. Design and methods: a pragmatic cluster-randomised controlled trial with nested economic evaluation. A total of 2,600 people with social care needs participated in a trial of community-based telecare in three English local authority areas. In the Whole Systems Demonstrator Telecare Questionnaire Study, 550 participants were randomised to intervention and 639 to control. Participants who were offered the telecare intervention received a package of equipment and monitoring services for 12 months, additional to their standard health and social care services. The control group received usual health and social care. Primary outcome measure: incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. The analyses took a health and social care perspective. Results: cost per additional QALY was £297,000. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curves indicated that the probability of cost-effectiveness at a willingness-to-pay of £30,000 per QALY gained was only 16%. Sensitivity analyses combining variations in equipment price and support cost parameters yielded a cost-effectiveness ratio of £161,000 per QALY. Implications: while QALY gain in the intervention group was similar to that for controls, social and health services costs were higher. Second-generation telecare did not appear to be a cost-effective addition to usual care, assuming a commonly accepted willingness to pay for QALYs. Trial registration number: ISRCTN 43002091.

Keywords: telecare; economic evaluation; social care; older people (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-06-20
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published in Age and Ageing, 20, June, 2014, 43(6), pp. 794-800. ISSN: 0002-0729

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/57270/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:57270

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().