Fractures (complex): assessment and management

Resource impact statement

No significant resource impact is anticipated

The NICE guideline on fractures (complex): assessment and management was updated in November 2022.

We do not expect this update to have a significant impact on resources; that is:

• the resource impact of implementing any single guideline recommendation in England will be less than £1 million per year (or approximately £1,800 per 100,000 population, based on a population for England of 56.3 million people) and
• the resource impact of implementing the whole guideline in England will be less than £5 million per year (or approximately £9,000 per 100,000 population, based on a population for England of 56.3m people).

This is because we do not anticipate practice changing substantially because of this guideline update. However, one of the recommendations may represent a change to current local practice. This is to use a temporary dressing that avoids wound desiccation and minimises the number of dressing changes after wound debridement or excision if immediate definitive soft tissue cover has not been performed (recommendation 1.2.31). This recommendation may reduce the use of negative pressure wound therapy which is one of the temporary dressing options and is currently widely used. Any resource impact as a result of this recommendation is not expected to be significant but should be considered at a local level.

Complex fracture services are commissioned by integrated care systems. Providers are NHS hospital trusts.