This paper consists of a review of economic evaluations of mental health care. The conclusion which emerges from this review is that the existing literature is lacking in both quantity and quality. Only seven evaluations of both the costs and effects of alternative forms of mental health care...

It is imperative that health care resources are spent as efficiently as possible by committing them to demonstrably cost-effective treatments and procedures. The NHS reforms of 1989 aimed to help achieve this by separating out the roles of purchaser and provider. In doing so, ‘trade’ between...

In this paper there is an attempt to demonstrate the relevance of economics to the provision of mental health care and to describe how one technique in the economist’s toolkit should be applied in this field if the objective of policy is to use society’s scarce resources efficiently. The...

Whenever the British National Health Service (NHS) appears to be short of money, the medical, political and proponents of various forms of alternative financing for health care enjoy a resurgence. What would be the economic effects of changing the financial base of the NHS from general taxation...

Functional dyspepsia can be defined as chronic or recurrent upper abdominal pain or discomfort, for which no focal lesion or systemic disease can be found. It is a common complaint seen by physicians and, although it does not cause death or severe disability in the majority of cases, represents...

The combination of different skills used to provide particular types of primary and hospital care varies considerably from general practice to general practice and from hospital to hospital. Furthermore, skill mixes are changing rapidly as decision makers attempt both to reduce labour costs and...

There has been little economic analysis of the private health care industry in Britain and as a result much of the policy debate about its role has been ill-informed and based on rhetoric. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the market for private health care and the demand for private...

As the number of those with HIV-AIDS increases, an important concern is to understand the pattern and range of social care needs and how best these can be met. This paper relates to the report of a two-year project, funded jointly by the Department of Health (DH) and the Scottish Education...

Over the last 50 years there has been a regular cycle of Government committees which have forecast “shortages” and “surpluses” in medical manpower. It is remarkable how little change there has been in the methods used in these forecasts. This has occurred despite regular critiques of the...

This is a follow-up paper arising from a World Health Organisation meeting which was held in Disley (near Manchester) in England in September 1984. The original paper for that conference (Maynard (1984)) was revised as a result of comments perceived at the Disley meeting and circulated to...