Project overview
Undertaken as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Cheshire West and Chester and East Cheshire children’s services departments, this project (which was completed in 2009) focussed on the development of unit costs for health and mental health processes. Funded by the Cheshire councils and the Economic and Social Research Council, the project also explored joint commissioning processes and how agreements are made for joint funding. The analyses undertaken provide increased transparency in negotiations where children and young people have complex health, education and social care needs.
The partnership has given Cheshire a clearer understanding of whether services are providing value for money and a basis for making comparisons and deciding where changes could be made. The partnership formed part of a wider initiative in Cheshire to improve the commissioning of children’s placements: the ‘Transforming Cheshire’ programme.
Achievements
- Development of conceptual frameworks for costing processes and services.
- Collection of time use activity data for looked after children through practitioner focus groups.
- Collection of time use activity data for selected health and mental health activities.
- Production of customised unit costs for inclusion in the Cost Calculator.
Methods
Data was collected to cost the high cost social care placement panel procedures and the approach was then extended to all the joint commissioning panels.
Work was also undertaken to publicise and establish regional and national contacts for the health module of the Cost Calculator, including links with Care Services Improvement Partnership, Healthy Care and the National Mapping of Children’s Trusts undertaken by Durham University. This was to ensure that the Cost Calculator is developed in line with national frameworks and objectives.
The project has examined data sharing and data storage arrangements between the local authority and the primary care trusts. It has calculated customised unit costs for the work undertaken by various local authority professionals to support looked after the children and included these unit costs in the Cost Calculator.
Contact
Lisa Holmes, Research Fellow
Email: L.J.Holmes@lboro.ac.uk