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Family or Staff? Valuing Inpatient Care Models to Design Sustainable Hybrid Inpatient Models in China and the UK

LSE Principal Investigator: Huixuan Gao
Start Date: 02 January 2026
End Date: 02 Janauary 2027
Funder: LSE Research & Innovation Seed Research Fund
Partners: University of Aberdeen; Binzhou Medical University & Affiliated Hospital; Binzhou People’s Hospital; Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine & Affiliated Hospital
Region(s): Asia and Europe
Countries: China and the UK
Keywords: Unpaid caregiving; inpatient care; economic valuation; wellbeing; NHS; China–UK comparison

Hospitals in China and the UK organise bedside care very differently. In many Chinese wards, families provide basic care such as feeding and overnight monitoring, while in the UK’s NHS these tasks are mainly delivered by paid staff. Both systems face challenges: hidden costs for families in China and workforce shortages in the UK. This project aims to generate evidence for designing hybrid inpatient care models that combine professional and family inputs safely and fairly.

The research uses a two-part approach. First, the team will survey about 900 unpaid family carers in Chinese hospitals to estimate the monetary value of bedside care and link these valuations to well-being measures. Second, a structured review in the UK will identify practical ward-level mechanisms for involving families when staff are overstretched. Together, these components will provide a comparative framework for balancing formal and informal care roles.

Key objectives are to:

  • Quantify the economic and well-being costs of unpaid inpatient care in China;
  • Identify variation by caregiver characteristics such as gender and only-child status;
  • Develop feasible ward-level mechanisms for family engagement in UK hospitals.

Planned outputs include a peer-reviewed article, a public-use anonymised dataset with a DOI and codebook, and a bilingual policy brief co-produced with a Chinese policy institute. These deliverables will inform policy reforms in both countries and offer lessons for other ageing health systems. By making the costs of family-provided hospital care visible and offering practical design options for hybrid models, the project aims to improve equity, sustainability and patient experience. The vision is a hospital care system where professional expertise and family support work together to ensure dignity for patients and protect carers’ rights.