Cost and clinical benefit of moving care out of hospital is uncertain, conference hears

Major opportunities are now available to cut the demand for hospital care in the NHS in England. But a lack of strong evidence for the cost effectiveness and clinical effectiveness of the alternatives currently on offer, and the need for “significant behaviour change,” will make this difficult to achieve, delegates to the NHS Confederation’s annual conference in Manchester heard on Thursday 7 July.

“It’s one thing to manage demand; it’s quite another to deliver savings,” declared Candace Imison, deputy director of policy at the health think tank the King’s Fund. “A significant proportion of non-elective inpatients occupying bed days don’t need to be there, but the challenge is to provide cost effective alternatives.”

Self management can cut attendance at emergency departments, …