Resource impact statement
The 2024 update of NICE's guideline on suspected sepsis replaces the previous version published in July 2016 and last updated in September 2017. The drivers for this update are the endorsement by NHS England of NEWS2 for risk stratification in people aged 16 or over who are not and have not recently been pregnant in acute hospital settings, acute mental health settings and ambulances, and new evidence about the timing of administration of antibiotics for people with suspected sepsis.
We expect that the resource impact of this update:
- for 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 56.6 million people) and
- for implementing the whole guideline in England will be less than £5 million per year (or approximately £8,800 per 100,000 population, based on a population for England of 56.6 million people).
This is because NEWS2 is already in widespread use throughout the NHS.
The main purpose of this guideline update is to update the risk stratification system to the NEWS2 risk strata. Any impact on the overall level of resources required to manage people with suspected sepsis would only be expected to occur if substantially more (or fewer) people end up in the higher risk category and are managed more intensively. The committee believed that the risk categories in the update are broadly similar to the previous guideline.
Services for people with suspected sepsis are commissioned by integrated care boards. Providers are NHS hospital trusts and primary care services.
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