Extending the Cost Calculator to include cost calculations for health and mental health: implementation in Cheshire Children's Services
Knowledge Transfer Partnership funded by Cheshire County Council and the Economic and Social Research Council.
The Cost Calculator for Children's Services (CCfCS) was developed as part of the CCFR research project: Costs and Consequences of Different Types of Childcare Provision.
It is a computer application and costing methodolody
designed to assist local authorities and other agencies to monitor the true costs of services to children and to link these to outcomes.
The main aim of this project is work with Cheshire County Council's Children's Services department to develop unit costs for health and mental health services provided to children in need, which can then be incorporated into the Cost Calculator.
Universal and specialist health and mental health services provided to looked after children will be identified and unit costs calculated for all these processes and services. A new version of the Cost Calculator which includes these will be developed.
Data has been collected to cost the high cost social care
placement panel procedures and this will be extended in the coming months to all the joint commissioning panels.
Work has also been 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 will help to ensure that the Cost Calculator is developed in line with
national frameworks and objectives.
The project is about to examine data sharing and data storage arrangements between the local authority and the primary care trusts. It currently involves calculating customised unit costs for the work undertaken by various local authority professionals to support looked after the children. In the next couple of months these costings will be completed and included in the Cost
Calculator.
In order to include costs for health and mental health services a conceptual framework for costing these elements will be developed, work has begun to identify the services which need to be costed. This will be followed by work to establish the activity undertaken by health professionals to support looked after
children.
This partnership will provide Cheshire with a clearer understanding on whether services are providing value for money and a basis for making comparisons and deciding where changes could be made.
Implementing and customising the Cost Calculator will assist those with a responsibility for commissioning with future planning and commissioning strategies and the work will also assist with Cheshire’s response to the Government’s Comprehensive Performance Review of all authorities.
The partnership will also support Cheshire’s commitment to developing evidence-based practice and Cheshire Children’s Services are likely to make economic savings as a result of improved joint commissioning processes
Lisa Holmes
Professor Harriet Ward
Anna Jones (Research Associate based in Cheshire)
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