Background In a difficult financial climate, hospices need to reaffirm their impact and contribution to society. Evaluating the externalities associated with the hospice services provided and alternative models of care will inform resource allocation. This partial economic analysis is being undertaken as a component of a larger study utilising a Social Return on Investment framework (SROI) to investigate the social, economic and environmental impact of hospice services.

Aim The aim is twofold; to estimate the costs per inpatient bed day for those nearing end of life to inform an analysis of how patient disease and health system related factors influence resource allocation and costs. Secondly, to demonstrate how the costs associated with the day care and inpatient units differ across alternative models of care.

Method A partial economic analysis will be performed as part of a multi-site comparative study of four hospices across North Wales, with the focus placed on the inpatient and day care units. Anonymised patient level data from each hospice will be accessed retrospectively and used in conjunction with the hospices’ annual accounts for October 2016. Hospice costs will be estimated using a bottom-up approach which will demonstrate the use of detailed activity and input usage data from records at the service provider level to estimate unit costs. This approach will also help to capture the site level differences.

Results The results are pending as the study is still being undertaken at time of abstract submission.