Paper
Extension of the Cost Calculator for Children’s Services to include cost calculations for health and mental health: implementation in Cheshire County Council’s Children’s Services
- issue: Issue 4 / 2009
- authors: Anna Jones
- keywords: health provision, Cost Calculator
- views: 3073
- downloaded: 0
- download pdf (49 Kb)
abstract
This project is a two year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) which began in October 2007 between the Centre for Child and Family Research (CCFR) at Loughborough University and Cheshire County Council, with a research associate based in Cheshire County Council's Children's Services. The KTP facilitates an exchange of information between university research and practice.
The Cost Calculator for Children's Services (CCfCS) has been developed by CCFR, and funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. It is a Microsoft Access computer application designed to help local authorities cost services and placements provided to looked after children. This project forms part of a wider research and development programme being undertaken by CCFR. The overall objective is to calculate the unit costs for all services received by children in need within specific timeframes and eventually calculate the true costs to public purse of providing services to children with extensive needs, to explore how these might be better configured to improve outcomes.
Within Cheshire Children's Services this partnership forms part of a wider initiative to improve the commissioning of children's placements: the 'Transforming Cheshire' programme. This work aims to determine whether existing patterns of service provision, and the associated commissioning and contracting processes, can be made more efficient by meeting more appropriately the changing assessed needs of looked after children.
Aims
The increasing emphasis on integrated children's services, wider efficiency and best value across all public agencies, highlights the need for an extension of the CCfCS. This project aims to extend the CCfCS to cover health provision for looked after children, which will assist in the introduction of effective joint commissioning strategies.
Description of the work
During the two year partnership work will be undertaken to identify commissioning processes, the health and mental health services provided for looked after children; the processes involved in referring these children for a health service and processes which enable them to access services. A conceptual framework will then be developed for costing these services and processes for inclusion in the CCfCS.
Customised social care, education, health and mental health finance and time use activity data will be imported into the CCfCS. The activity data will be collected from focus groups with practitioners and event records detailing how they allocate their working time (for a sample of children).
The CCfCS will be implemented into Cheshire County Council, staff will be trained in the use of the CCfCS and modifications will be made in response to users' feedback.
Collaborations with regional and national contacts will take place to ensure developments are shared and that the CCfCS has a life beyond the KTP by aligning with national framework and initiatives, and by using common definitions and terminology.
Implications for policy and practice
Increased transparency in the unit costs of providing social care, education, health and mental health services to looked after children, which will allow authorities to negotiate from a position of strength with providers in an increasingly competitive market.
- Clearer understanding of whether services provide value for money, thus forming a basis for comparisons and deciding where changes could be made.
- The introduction of bottom up cost data will facilitate demonstrations of how costs are spread across agencies leading to a better understanding of the constituent elements, more efficient joint commissioning.
- Improved care packages and service provision due to enhanced communication across services, leading to improved life chances and outcomes for children and families, in line with Every Child Matters.
Contact details
Anna Jones, Floor 2, Goldsmith House, Cheshire County Council, Hamilton Place, Chester, Cheshire, CH1 1SE. UK.
Email: anna.jones@cheshire.gov.uk
Tel: 0044 1244 977 241