{"id":11273,"date":"2026-01-19T15:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/corec\/?p=11273"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:13:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:13:49","slug":"unit-costs-webinars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/corec\/unit-costs-webinars\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit Costs of Health and Social Care Webinars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Birch, Helen Weatherly, Karen Jones, Debs Smith, Douglas Findlay.<\/strong><\/p>\n

July 2025<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Universities of Kent and York have worked together as part of the Unit Costs of Health and Social Care Programme since 2022, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). \u00a0The Programme team also includes 3 Research Advisors as part of the Public Involvement and Engagement team.<\/p>\n

Annually, the team publishes an updated Unit Costs Manual and carries out related research. So far, this has included a user survey, a scoping review, a commentary on costing methods, and the creation of an online Unit Costs Adjuster.<\/p>\n

As part of the drive to enhance the use of Unit Costs, the team ran a series of webinars. As of January 2026, two webinars have been delivered. \u00a0These webinars were aimed at a wide range of users, including academics, health and care professionals, economists, data analysts, students, members of the public, and people from charities and businesses. \u00a0The webinars have provided an opportunity to share the work delivered through the Programme, and to learn about what users want and find useful about Unit Costs.<\/p>\n

Webinar 1 \u2013 \u2018An Overview of the Unit Costs Programme\u2019 \u2013 May 6th\u00a02025<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this webinar, Karen Jones, Principal Investigator for the Unit Costs Programme at the University of Kent, gave an overview of the Unit Costs Programme, covering its history (1992-2021) and key principles. \u00a0Karen explained how a cost is related to the amount (the unit) of something being bought. \u00a0With care services, the unit is usually a period of care, for example, 2.5 hours at a day centre or a week in a care home.\u00a0 For workforce costs, it\u2019s usually the cost per hour of a professional, such as a GP, nurse, or social worker. \u00a0These costs include salaries, buildings, equipment, overheads, training and more, using data from sources like the National Cost Collection and the Department of Health and Social Care.<\/p>\n

Helen Weatherly, co-lead for the Unit Costs Programme at the University of York, described the current programme (from 2022 onwards) and the various \u2018work packages\u2019 that make up the research. \u00a0Helen spoke about the scoping review, costing methods, and a stakeholder survey. \u00a0She also introduced tools like the Unit Costs Adjuster (the focus of the next webinar) and highlighted how the team explores new services, cost data sources, and methods. Helen highlighted that throughout the work, the Programme\u2019s Research Advisors have shaped the research and the delivery of the Unit Cost Manual.<\/p>\n

Sarah Birch, Public Involvement and Engagement Manager at the University of Kent, shared how the Research Advisors contribute to all aspects of the Programme\u2014from meetings and manual reviews to engagement planning and website design. The Research Advisors also highlighted why Unit Costs matter to the public, for example, when thinking about care costs for loved ones or choosing health insurance.<\/p>\n

The webinar concluded with a \u2018Question and Answer\u2019 session. \u00a0Attendees asked about costs for different settings of care (e.g. hospital versus community care), how to adjust for face-to-face versus remote contact, and how Unit Costs relate to programme budgeting and the cost of specific conditions.<\/p>\n

The event drew strong interest, with 345 people viewing the event registration page, 134 registrations, and 98 participants joining the webinar, with over 70% of attendees in a researcher, economist or clinician role.<\/p>\n

Webinar 2 \u2013 \u2018An Introduction to the new Unit Costs Adjuster\u2019 \u2013 June 5th\u00a02025<\/strong><\/p>\n

This webinar introduced the newly developed Unit Costs Adjuster. \u00a0Karen Jones set the scene by providing an overview of the Unit Costs Programme, followed by Helen Weatherly, who explained why the Adjuster was created and how it was developed. Over time, the Unit Costs have been stored in a master file in Excel for use in populating annual versions of the Unit Costs Manual. The new Adjuster is interactive \u2013 users can enter their own data to estimate costs tailored to their needs.<\/p>\n

Helen explained how the Adjuster was designed to make cost data more accessible and transparent. It lets users adjust different cost components to suit their interests. Minyue Gao, formerly a Research Fellow at the University of York, gave a live demonstration of the Unit Costs Adjuster, showing users how to search for specific costs and adjust inputs to calculate their own Unit Cost estimates.<\/p>\n

In the Q&A session, participants asked about the Unit Costs of private versus public sector services, funding for new data collection, and the ability to calculate comparable Unit Costs across conditions and risk factors. \u00a0The webinar had 233 event page views, 124 registrations, and 66 attendees, over 80% from research and clinical backgrounds. The feedback was positive, with participants finding the Adjuster valuable. Webinar attendees suggested adding a glossary of terms, an inflation adjuster, and options for geographic variation in future updates.<\/p>\n

Missed the Webinars? Catch-up here!<\/strong><\/p>\n