The costs of what? Measuring services and quality of care

If we are to be able to reflect the cost implications of changes in the nature, quality

and productivity of long-term care interventions in future projections, we need an

approach to measurement that reflects the value and quality of care. This paper describes

a theoretically based but pragmatic approach to identifying the welfare gain from

government expenditure on social care and illustrates an application in projecting the

costs of long-term care used in the Wanless review of future needs of social care for older

people in England.