Estimating the health-care costs of wound care in Ireland

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the cost of wound care to the Irish health-care system.

Methods: A bottom-up, prevalence-based analysis was undertaken using a decision analytic model to estimate costs. Health-care resource activity was identified from a recently published study from the UK and was valued using unit cost data for Ireland.

Results: The base case analysis estimated the total annual healthcare cost of wound care to be €629,064,198 (95% Confidence interval (CI): €452,673,358 to €844,087,124), accounting for 5% (95% CI: 3% to 6%) of total public health expenditure in Ireland in 2013. The average cost per patient was €3,941 (95% CI: €2,836 to €5,287). However, this study is subject to many limitations and plausible changes in the model's inputs showed that the total annual health-care cost of wound care could range from €281,438,970 to €844,316,912.

Conclusion: Caring for wounds places a substantial burden on the Irish health-care system. In light of growing pressures to finance an already resource-constrained health-care system, these results provide useful information for those charged with future wound care service design and provision in Ireland and elsewhere.

Keywords: Ireland; cost analysis; cost-effective; prevalence; wound care.