Cost-effectiveness of interventions for chronic wound debridement: an evaluation in search of data

The efficient and effective allocation of healthcare resources is vital in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, as the pressure of delivering high-quality healthcare within a finite budget increases. Healthcare decision-making must be grounded in evidence and incorporate information about both the costs and benefits (health outcomes) of healthcare interventions. Economic evaluations provide this synthesis of economic and clinical information, comparing one intervention with a competing alternative in terms of both their costs and consequences. Such analyses may be undertaken prospectively, for example, alongside a randomised controlled trial (RCT), or through decision analytic modelling approaches. Box 1 below summarises the different types of economic evaluation that can be undertaken in healthcare. HAYLEY BENNETT, Research Officer, Swansea Centre for Health Economics, Swansea University