A Return on Investment Tool for the Assessment of Falls Prevention Programmes for Older People Living in the Community
Public Health England Public Health England, London. 2018

This report presents results of a tool developed by York Health Economics Consortium to assess the potential return on investment (ROI) of falls prevention programmes targeted at older people living in the community. The tool pulls together evidence on the effectiveness and associated costs for four programmes where there was evidence of cost-effectiveness: Otago home exercise, Falls Management Exercise group programme, Tai Chi group exercise, and home assessment and modification. Based on an example analysis, all four interventions were found to be cost-effective, thus producing a positive societal ROI. One out of four interventions was also found to have a positive financial ROI (ie cost savings outweigh the cost of implementation). An accompanying Excel sheet allows for results to be tailored to the local situation based on the knowledge of the user. (Edited publisher abstract)

Evaluation of Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC)
Thom G SQW Limited, London. 2018

The Department of Health has commissioned a summative evaluation of the Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC) programme. The evaluation will be carried out by a consortium led by SQW, in partnership with Bryson Purdon Social Research (BPSR), Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) and the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) both at the University of York, and Mott MacDonald.

Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC) was launched in April 2015. It is a partnership between NHS England and the Local Government Association.

IPC is an approach to joining up health and social care, and other services where appropriate. The purpose is to enable people, with help from carers and families, to combine the resources available to them in order to control their care. This is achieved through personalised care planning and personal budgets. IPC also aims to support people to develop the skills and confidence needed to self-manage their care in partnership with carers, the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, community capacity and peer support.

Evidence to Inform the Commissioning of Social Prescribing
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, York. 2015

Summarises the findings of a rapid appraisal of available evidence on the effectiveness of social prescribing. Social prescribing is a way of linking patients in primary care with sources of support within the community, and can be used to improve health and wellbeing. For the review searches were conducted on the databases: DARE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and NHS EED for relevant systematic reviews and economic evaluations. Additional searches were also carried out on MEDLINE, ASSIA, Social Policy and Practice, NICE, SCIE and NHS. Very little good quality evidence was identified. Most available evidence described evaluations of pilot projects but failed to provide sufficient detail to judge either success or value for money. The briefing calls for better evaluation of new schemes. It recommends that evaluation should be of a comparative design; examine for whom and how well a scheme works; the effect it has and its costs.

Homecare Re-ablement Prospective Longitudinal Study: Final Report
Social Policy Research Unit, University of York Department of Health, London. 2010

A study conducted with ten participating councils to investigate and provide
further information and evidence of the benefits of homecare re-ablement and
the duration of these benefits.

Loneliness and Social Isolation Among Older People in North Yorkshire
Bernard SM Research Report. SPRU Working Paper, WP 256 . Social Policy Research Unit, York. 2013

This report was commissioned by the Loneliness Task Group of the North Yorkshire
Older People‟s Partnership Board (NYOPPB). Its purpose was to build on the
findings from the „Voice of Ripon‟ loneliness survey carried out in 2009 on behalf of
NYOPPB(1) . The report aims to provide a review of current literature that brings
together knowledge about the extent and nature of loneliness among older people.
This will help to clarify current thinking about what a „good practice‟ or service looks
like and start to identify likely models of good practice in North Yorkshire.
The report looks at how loneliness and social isolation are understood in the
literature, why they should be important concerns of local strategic organisations,
such as health and wellbeing boards, and what might be done. This evidence is set
in the context of the geography and demography of North Yorkshire and suggestions
for future work are made.

Meta-review of International Evidence on Interventions to Support Carers
Parker G, Arksey H, Harden M Social Policy Research Unit, York. 2010

Given the increasingly valuable and essential role that carers play in society, it is timely to undertake a comprehensive review of the research literature on interventions for carers. The present overview of the evidence base relating to the outcomes and cost-effectiveness of support was intended to inform thinking by the Department of Health and the Standing Commission on Carers about how best to improve outcomes for carers, as well as identifying future research areas.

Personalization in the health care system: Do personal health budgets impact on outcomes and cost?
Jones K, Forder J, Caiels J et al Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 18, 59-67. 2013

Objectives: In England’s National Health Service, personal health budgets are part of a growing trend to give patients more choice and control over how health care services are managed and delivered. The personal health budget programme was launched by the Department of Health in 2009, and a three-year independent evaluation was commissioned with the aim of identifying whether the initiative ensured better health- and care-related outcomes and at what cost when compared to conventional service delivery. Methods: The evaluation used a pragmatic controlled trial design to compare the outcomes and costs of patients selected to receive a personal health budget with those continuing with conventional support arrangements (control group). Just over 1000 individuals were recruited into the personal health budget group and 1000 into the control group in order to ensure sufficient statistical power, and followed for 12 months. Results: The use of personal health budgets was associated with significant improvement in patients’ care-related quality of life and psychological wellbeing at 12 months. Personal health budgets did not appear to have an impact on health status, mortality rates, health-related quality of life or costs over the same period. With net benefits measured in terms of care-related quality of life on the adult social care outcome toolkit measure, personal health budgets were cost-effective: that is, budget holders experienced greater benefits than people receiving conventional services, and the budgets were worth the cost. Conclusion: The evaluation provides support for the planned wider roll-out of personal health budgets in the English NHS after 2014 in so far as the localities in the pilot sample are representative of the whole country.

Supporting Carers of People with Dementia
Parker G, Gridley K, Aspinal F Socia Policy Research Unit, York. 2018

Unpaid carers are the mainstay of the UK care system for people with dementia. Yet caring
can have an impact on the well-being and health of the carer.
Admiral Nursing is the only specialist nursing service in the UK
that specifically focuses on supporting carers of people with
dementia, but evidence of its effectiveness, costs, and
relationships to other services is limited. This project aimed to
address this gap and explore the feasibility of full-scale formal
evaluation.

The Costs and Benefits of Preventative Support Services for Older People
Pleace N Centre of Housing Policy, York. 2011

This paper is a brief overviewc ommissioned by Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services. This paper reviews the evidence on the cost effectiveness of preventative support services that assist older people with care and support needs to remain in their own homes. The costs of these preventative support services are contrasted with the costs of specialisthousing options, such as sheltered and extra care housing and also with the costs of health services, as part of reviewing the value for money of preventative support services

The MoRE project: Models of reablement evaluation: a mixed methods evaluation of a complex intervention
Beresford B, Aspinal F, Parker G, et al Socia Policy Research Unit, York. 2017

This mixed-methods study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different ways of providing reablement in England.

The PEDRO Study: Partnerships Between Deaf People and Hearing Dogs
Beresford B Socia Policy Research Unit, York. Due to complete 2019

The PEDRO study is evaluating and exploring hearing dog partnerships. The aim of the study is to understand the impacts and experiences of these partnerships, and their place within wider support and provision for deaf people and people with hearing loss.