Valuing fetal health outcomes in cost-effectiveness analysis

The amount the NHS pays for a treatment that prevents miscarriage or stillbirth will depend on how much society values these health outcomes. Values that help the NHS decide which treatments to pay for children and adults have been widely researched, but there is no such evidence for unborn babies. As a result, studies have often attached no value to their outcomes.

I aim to define a value that the NHS could use to decide whether a treatment is cost-effective based on what pregnant women think is important. I will run focus groups to find out about women’s experiences and then develop a value by surveying women using a method called a discrete choice experiment.

If NHS decision makers used such a value, it could lead to fairer decisions and better treatments being available on the NHS, producing better outcomes for women and their babies.