Cost-offset following specialist treatment of severe personality disorders

Abstract

Service usage of 24 patients with a personality disorder was established for one year pre-treatment and one year post-treatment via a prospective survey of the patients, their original referrer and their general practitioner. The average annual cost of psychiatric and prison services (calculated from extra-contractual referrals (ECR) tariffs and Home Office data) was £13 966 pre-treatment compared to £1306 post-treatment, representing a cost-offset of £12 658 per patient per year. The average cost of the specialist admission was £25 641. Thus the cost to the Nation for treating these personality disordered patients in a tertiary treatment resource would be recouped within two years and represent a saving thereafter.