NHS dentistry costs £3.7 billion per year (3.5% of the NHS budget).
News coverage often highlights the limited resources NHS trusts have, reinforcing the idea that these scare resources should be used to best effect. There is therefore a need to develop and use tools to aid efficient resource allocation. Since it is ultimately the general public who fund this service (through taxation and direct payments) it is vital that any such tools incorporate their views. Currently, decisions regarding how the NHS spends money generated from tax and patients charges (the resource which needs to be allocated) does not incorporate public views (the societal perspective) and is thought to be largely a result of historic allocation.
The RAINDROP project aims to develop a robust, valid and accessible approach to ensuring that services commissioned are aligned to public valuations by combining economic measures of valuation (Willingness to Pay) with economic tools (e.g. Program Budgeting and Marginal Analysis) that can be used in the commissioning process to ensure consistent and defensible decision making.