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Health economic burden that different wound types impose on the UK's National Health Service

No / The aim of this study was to estimate the patterns of care and annual levels of health care resource use attributable to the management of different wound types by UK’s National Health Service (NHS) in 2012/2013 and the annual costs incurred by the NHS in managing them. This was a retrospective cohort analysis of the records of 2000 patients in The Health Improvement Network (THIN) Database. Patients’ characteristics, wound-related health outcomes and all health care resource use were quanti ed, and the total NHS cost of patient management was estimated at 2013/2014 prices. The NHS managed an estimated 2⋅2 million patients with a wound during 2012/2013. Patients were predominantly managed in the community by general practitioners and nurses. The annual NHS cost varied between £1⋅94 billion for managing 731 000 leg ulcers and £89⋅6 million for managing 87 000 burns. Sixty-one percent of all wounds were shown to heal in an average year. Resource use associated with managing the unhealed wounds was substantially greater than that of managing the healed wounds (e.g. 20% more practice nurse visits, 104% more community nurse visits). Consequently, the annual cost of managing wounds that healed in the study period was estimated to be £2⋅1 billion compared with £3⋅2 billion for the 39% of wounds that did not heal within the study year. Within the study period, the cost per healed wound ranged from £698 to £3998 per patient and that of an unhealed wound ranged from £1791 to £5976 per patient. Hence, the patient care cost of an unhealed wound was a mean 135% more than that of a healed wound. Real-world evidence highlights the substantial burden that wounds impose on the NHS in an average year. Clinical and economic bene ts to both patients and the NHS could accrue from strategies that focus on (a) wound prevention, (b) accurate diagnosis and (c) improving wound-healing rates. / NIHR, Bradford Institute for Health Research, 3M United Kingdom Plc, Activa Healthcare Ltd, Brightwake Limited, KCI Medical Limited, Longhand Data, Medira Limited, Mölnlycke Health Care Limited, Park House Healthcare Limited, Pulsecare Medical Limited, Smith and Nephew Medical Limited, Sozo Woundcare Limited, Systagenix Wound Management Limited, Trio Healthcare, Urgo Limited, Willingsford Limited

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/14703
Date26 May 2016
CreatorsGuest, J.F., Ayoub, N., Mcilwraith, T., Uchegbu, I., Gerrish, A., Weidlick, D., Vowden, Kath, Vowden, Peter
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, No full-text in the repository

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