The costs of care for people with dual sensory impairment

<p>The Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) was asked by the Hester Adrian Research Centre (HARC) to lead<p><p>the costing side of an evaluation of further education services for young people provided at SENSE-in-the-Midlands. This short report is the outcome of that work. The broader study, commissioned by the Department of Health, involves assessment of the quality of these services through monitoring and observation of staff and client activity. Data on social contacts and parental satisfaction with services are collected as well as measures of the social climate of residential provision. Assessments were conducted at two points in time: during the four months preceding admission to SENSE (Time 1), and between four and six months after moving to SENSE facilities (Time 2). <p><p>

<p><p><p>In this paper we report findings from the evaluation of the costs of services for a small sample of people who have dual sensory impairments. We first set out the broad parameters of the methodology, and then turn to look at clients, their service utilisation and the associated costs of care while resident in the SENSE facilities. Service receipt and care costs are also reported for the sample members before admission to the SENSE facility. It was agreed that the PSSRU work should form an integral part of the broader evaluation, and so the paper ends with a short summary of the work which will be included in the full report to the Department of Health.<p><p>

<p><p><p>We found an average cost of £575 per week for the pre-SENSE period (Time 1), 85 per cent of which was accounted for by accommodation and an average of £937 per week for SENSE students, with 99 per cent attributable to accommodation costs. The weekly cost difference between the Time 1 and Time 2 costs averaged £270.30, which represents a significant increase in costs (40 per cent higher than the pre-SENSE, Time 1, costs). The difference in total cost comprises a marked increase in accommodation costs and a reduction in non-accommodation costs. One noticeable difference related to the striking increase in the input of professionals from outside the accommodation unit in case reviews once clients were resident at SENSE.<p><p>

<p><p><p>The higher cost reported for clients once resident at SENSE-in-the-Midlands needs to be seen in the broader context of changing service receipt patterns and the findings from the evaluation of the quality of the services. These findings indicate that '...students, while resident at SENSE facilities, experience a greater quality of life and superior support when compared with previous placements' (Emerson and Cooper,1992).