Two studies, probably the first in Britain, have suggested that new guidelines for managing minor head injury (MHI) adopted by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) may raise costs, not reduce them as in North America. They predict that there may be major consequences for hospitals without ready access to computed tomography (CT).

Both were studies at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, England, a tertiary referral centre for neurosurgery. One was a retrospective case note study of MHI in adults during seven months in the emergency department to compare …