The objectives of the seminar were to review some of the current initiatives in the nursing field in the United Kingdom to see what methods could wisely be incorporated in the new financial systems being tested in those Districts currently working with CASPE. Cost planning is defined in the terms of the economist's definition of an Opportunity Cost (that is, the value of the alternatives of other opportunities which may have to be forgone to achieve a particular thing). In the context of the seminar therefore, interest was being concentrated on formal systems to aid the review of the costs and relative benefits of different parts of a district's nursing service.