LP-MAESTRO (WS2P1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Liaison Psychiatry: Measurement and evaluation of service types, referral patterns and outcomes (LP-MAESTRO): Works Stream 2 Phase 1 (WS2P1)
IRAS ID
178391
Contact name
Elspeth Guthrie
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Liaison psychiatry (LP) involves the provision of mental health services in non-psychiatric settings, in this case in general hospitals. Liaison services exist because there are higher rates of most mental health problems in general hospitals than there are in the general population. The two main questions asked of them are: do they improve outcomes for the people referred to them and if so can they do so in a cost-effective way? It has even been claimed that LP saves the NHS money by reducing inappropriate use of expensive general hospital stays and treatment for people who are best helped in other ways. The challenge in answering these questions is that liaison services vary greatly in how they are set up, in the sort of referrals they see, and in how they deliver care. Liaison psychiatry for the elderly does not cover the same ground as that for working age adults. So asking whether liaison services are cost effective is not like asking whether a cardiac surgery service is cost-effective but more like (on a smaller scale) asking if general practice is.
The overall aim of LP-MAESTRO is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of particular configurations of liaison psychiatry service for specified target populations. To do this, an innovative approach based upon linking routinely collected patient-level data and using economic modelling with the resulting aggregated data will be developed and evaluated.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
16/NS/0025
Date of REC Opinion
15 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion