Since 2000, nine systematic reviews5-10;11-13 have been published. These reported conflicting results regarding the benefits of home visiting programmes; five found beneficial effects, three found no evidence of benefit and two were inconclusive. A subgroup analysis within one review suggested that effective home-visiting programmes include multidimensional assessment, many follow-up visits and targeted people at a lower risk of death.7 These reviews did not include consider cost-effectiveness concerns and none were UK-specific.
This assessment will seek to address these gaps to identify the factors which contribute to the effectiveness of these interventions and to examine whether such programmes represent value for money.