BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to calculate the cost to the UK National Health Service of providing treatment services for patients with sickle cell disorders. The rates of differential morbidity and mortality, in the first 10 years of life, between screen-detected early diagnosed and clinically presenting late diagnosed cohorts of sickle cell disorder patients are also estimated. METHOD...

OBJECTIVE To examine the strength of hospital consultants' preferences for various aspects of their work. DESIGN Questionnaire survey including a discrete choice experiment. SETTING NHS Scotland. PARTICIPANTS 2923 hospital consultants in Scotland. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Monetary valuations or prices for each job characteristic, based on consultants' willingness to pay and willingness to ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the economics of routine antenatal anti-D prophylaxis in the prevention of haemolytic disease of the newborn, in support of the NICE appraisals process. DESIGN Cost effectiveness analysis. SETTING UK NHS. POPULATION/SAMPLE Pregnant women who are RhD-negative. METHODS A model was constructed to estimate the incremental cost effectiveness and cost utility of: (1) ...

OBJECTIVES To compare the cost effectiveness of laparoscopic versus open colposuspension for the treatment of female urinary stress incontinence. DESIGN Cost utility analysis alongside a randomised controlled trial. SETTING Six gynaecological surgical centres within the UK. POPULATION/SAMPLE Women with proven stress urinary incontinence requiring surgery. METHODS Open abdominal retropub...

This study reports the results of a long-term economic evaluation of riluzole in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) versus best supportive care in the United Kingdom. The aim was to assess the cost implications of the life extension offered by riluzole through cost utility analysis based on patient assessed utilities of different health states.A Markov model was used to assess...

AIMS To assess the cost-effectiveness of an improved automated grading algorithm for diabetic retinopathy against a previously described algorithm, and in comparison with manual grading. METHODS Efficacy of the alternative algorithms was assessed using a reference graded set of images from three screening centres in Scotland (1253 cases with observable/referable retinopathy and 6333 individua...

BACKGROUND Trial TAX 324 showed that induction chemotherapy with docetaxel plus cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (TPF) compared with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (PF) followed by chemoradiation increases survival and time to progression in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN). METHODS A Markov model was developed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of induction chemotherapy with doceta...

Payments by the NHS Litigation Authority continue to rise each year, and reflect an increase in successful claims for negligence against NHS Trusts. Information about the reasons for which Trusts are sued in the field of trauma and orthopaedic surgery is scarce. We analysed 130 consecutive cases of alleged clinical negligence in which the senior author had been requested to act as an expert wit...