THE COSTS OF DOMUS CARE

In this article we examine the costs and certain characteristics of domus care in two facilities. The domuses are registered mental health nursing homes and the charge made to residents covers many of the service needs of residents. All residents are dependent on social security benefits. The two facilities are highly staffed and each client receives between 17 and 25 hours per week of individual, one-to-one support. The research uses the Client Service Receipt Interview to gather data which allow measures of costs for all domus residents to be built up. Use of services based outside the domuses was rare, nevertheless a wide variety of professionals visited the domuses. The main service gaps and deficiencies related to day support services and the inputs of GPs. Accommodation (including in-house services) dominated the aggregate total costs of care (96%). Average total community care cost was 951 Pound per week for current domus A residents and 909 Pound for domus B residents. Although the new service was more costly than the hospitals from which residents came, the results from the outcomes study suggest that domus residents are experiencing a better quality of life than in hospital.