Revenue costs

Administration costs

One full time administrator is required per centre to organise the screening programme. A consultant vascular surgeon will be attached to each screening centre and will work there for one half day a week. Two central administrators will be required to organise the programme for the whole of England. Specific salaries of staff are country-specific {2}.

From the MASS trial costs of £1.50 for an invitation and £1.47 for a re-invitation are given; these cover clerical staff time, postage and stationery, cost of obtaining patient details, and office space and equipment {10}.

Screening and treatment costs

The number of devices and screening staff depends on the size of population that needs to be screened and other organisational aspects.

Each centre requires financial resources for maintenance of equipment – ultrasound machine, computer and blood pressure machine. Exact costs depend on the devices used (and whether they are mobile or not). The cost of training technicians is to be included. For quality assurance one radiologist per centre and one radiologist for national quality control are needed {2}.

Prices of medical procedures are country-specific.

Table 1. Prices of medical procedures in selected European countries {11}

Capital costs

Capital costs include ultrasound machines and computers, premises for administrative and diagnostic purposes or mobile screening unit (if used). It needs to be taken into account that capital needs to be renewed after fixed time period {2}.

There are also capital costs arising from providing extra beds and intensive care unit beds for post-operative patients.

Every country needs to assess their costs independently using cost-effectiveness analyses or other economic evaluation methods. It is important to take into account that all costs are likely to increase from year to year. Also demographic changes influence all estimates.

Screening programmes are usually financed directly by national or local government. Some countries also apply cost-sharing so that the person to be screened pays part of screening costs (in Sweden men pay a fee for initial ultrasound examination) {11}.