Type 2 intestinal failure (IF) is a specific disease entity, the management of which requires multidisciplinary clinical expertise combined with appropriate infrastructure. Accurate UK costs for providing such services are unavailable. We made an assessment of these costs at our hospital, categorising patients according to whether it was an index admission (IA), readmission (RA) or admission for definitive surgery (SA).A structured search was undertaken to record all activity captured electronically for 25 patients with type 2 IF. These data were combined with clinical information to generate a cost model.Lengths of stay were median 94 days, range (8–297) IA; 7, (1–75) RA and 28, (7–135) SA (p < 0.001). Total minimum admission costs were median £47,865, range (6341–119,542) IA; £3838, (717–32,472) for RA and 21,974, (6532–69,602) for SA (p < 0.001). This equated to minimum costs per patient day of £442 IA, £468 RA, and £726 SA. Overall, there was an income shortfall of 55.3% per patient.Better costing mechanisms are needed in relation to IF patients to allow for heterogeneity, resource utilisation and varied length of stay, these should be on a cost per patient day basis depending on admission type.