Abstract:

Service use & costs of supporting frail older people at home in the community were examined using data from a longitudinal four-area study in England (N = 1,055 mentally, physically, & mentally & physically frail subjects). Cost analyses revealed that a small number of services accounted for a large proportion of the total costs. The level of services offered by the nonstatutory voluntary & private sectors was small. Bivariate analyses revealed substantial variation in costs according to household structure, type of frailty, admission to continuing care accommodation, & survival. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that 26% of the variation in average weekly costs could be explained by a few sociodemographic & health status variables. A particularly close relationship was observed between costs & whether admission to continuing care accommodation occurred, highlighting a need for policymakers to examine the nature & scale of provision of alternative community-based care packages. Results demonstrate that descriptive cost data can provide information useful to the planning process, enabling more informed choices to be made regarding provision of services for particular groups of people.