 William is an economist, and the driving force behind Laing & Buisson. After graduating from the London School of Economics (BSc Econ) he began his career in 1967 as an Economist with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. He subsequently moved to the ABPI sponsored Office of Health Economics where he was appointed Deputy Director in 1971. In 1976 he left to set up Laing & Buisson.
William is viewed by many as the leading commentator on private health and community care in this country. His comments on industry events are regularly sought by the media and he is frequently invited to speak at conferences and to participate in ‘think tank’ committees. As editor of Laing’s Healthcare Market Review, he leads the team responsible for the collation of market data and trends on each segment of the independent healthcare sector: Acute hospitals, Medical insurance, Psychiatric & mental health services, Primary care and Care of elderly people. Based on extensive market knowledge and contacts, he frequently undertakes due diligence exercises on behalf of investors across the range of healthcare services.
William has a particular interest in the funding and delivery of long term care services and was commissioned by Age Concern England in 1994 to write ‘Financing Long Term Care: the crucial debate’, which first proposed the separation of LTC costs into the “care” (payable out of taxation) and “hotel” costs (where state support would be means tested). The concept was subsequently adopted by both the Joseph Rowntree Committee of Inquiry and the Royal Commission on Long Term Care. During 1995 and 1996 William served on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation enquiry on the funding of long term care and he has also been called to give evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee of Health.
Publications include Keeping a Lid on Medical Insurance Costs (1988) for the Institute of Economic Affairs, Empowering the Elderly: direct consumer funding of care services, published by the IEA Health and Welfare Unit in 1991, UK Private Specialists’ Fees – is the price right? in 1992, Financing Long Term Care, published by Age Concern in 1994, and A Fair Price for Care? Disparities between market rates and state funding of residential care, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 1998.
More recently, William was the author of Calculating a Fair Price for Care: a toolkit for residential and nursing care costs, first published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2002 and fully updated and revised in 2004 and 2008 with new data from care home providers. The toolkit provides care commissioners and care home groups and associations with a model for determining reasonable fee levels based on local market parameters. The model has subsequently been widely used in local fee negotiations throughout Britain. It is freely available on the web through the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Email: william@laingbuissonconsulting.co.uk
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