Peer support for discharge from hospital to community mental health care: a cost -analysis

What is already known on this topic – Peer support is rapidly being introduced into mental health care, with evidence emerging of the experiential and psychosocial benefits for people using mental health services. However, analyses to date of the economic costs and benefits of introducing peer support are based on observational, non-randomised or pilot studies and so are of limited value for policymakers and practitioners.

What this study adds – Analysing data from the largest individually randomised controlled trial of peer support in mental health services to date, this study provides evidence that the offer of peer support – at discharge from inpatient psychiatric care – reduces the overall cost of mental health care, without detrimental impact on clinical outcomes for service users.

How this study might affect research, practice or policy – The evidence this study provides will give policymakers and practitioners confidence that they can introduce peer support into mental health services in the expectation that it is likely to reduce overall cost of care without harm to people using it. Further research remains needed to fully understand the effects of peer support and to inform better implementation of peer support into practice.