The resources below provide guidance and support to drive continuous improvement in urgent and emergency care services.

Data

• Real Time Data

Demand and capacity

• Demand and capacity emergency department model: This model will help you to understand the demand and capacity needs of type 1, 2, and 3 emergency departments (ED) – including MIUs.

Discharge

• Improvement guidance for writing a criteria led discharge policy: guidance on writing a patient discharge policy on criteria led discharge
• Rapid improvement guide: criteria led discharge: easily accessible approaches and principles for the implementation of criteria led discharge
• Hospital discharge and community support guidance: this guidance sets out how NHS bodies and local athorities can plan and deliver hospital discharges.
• Ten best practice initiatives: initiatives that demonstrably improve flow and improve discharge
• Managing transfers of care – A high impact change model: support for local system partners to improve health and wellbeing, minimise unnecessary hospital stays and encourage them to consider new interventions.

Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT)

• Getting it Right First Time Academy of resources: Getting it Right First Time Academy of resources provide useful clinical resources including best practice pathways, case studies, and guidance documents for surgical and medical specialties as well as cross-cutting workstreams such as clinical coding and litigation.
• GIRFT Summary Emergency Department Indicator Table (SEDIT): the Summary Emergency Department Indicator Table (SEDIT) is an easy-to-use, online depository of emergency medicine data, including novel metrics, that is updated monthly and is available to all NHS colleagues.
• Online improvement tool helps ease pressure in emergency departments (ED): An online improvement tool from the GIRFT and UEC teams is helps to enhance capacity in hospital emergency departments and admissions wards. Alternatives to ED (A-tED) uses a simple scoring system to rate and compare accessibility to services patients use as an alternative to attending their ED. A sister tool – Alternatives to Admission (A-tA) can also be utilised.

Same day emergency care (SDEC)

• What is same day emergency care? Video describing the principles of same day emergency care.

Winter Improvement Collaborative

• Urgent and emergency care improvement guide to contact hubs for primary, ambulance and clinical calls
• Urgent and emergency care improvement guide to direct access
• Urgent and emergency care improvement guide same day emergency care flow
• Urgent and emergency care improvement guide same day emergency care pathways
• Urgent and emergency care improvement guide specialty support to the urgent and emergency care pathway/internal professional standards

Workforce

• Transfers of care hub: staff action cards: action card for transfers of care hub teams.

Other:

• Better Care Fund policy framework 2022-2023: guidance for Better Care Fund implementation.
• Standard guidance: ambulance clinician (on scene) referral to same day emergency care: guidance will help ambulance providers with designing and implementing direct referrals into same day emergency care (SDEC).
• Virtual ward resources: multiple resources to support virtual wards.
• Project reset in emergency medicine: patient FIRST: patient FIRST is a support tool designed by clinicians, for clinicians. It includes practical solutions that all emergency departments could consider.
• Provider collaboration review: Urgent and emergency care: review to show the best of innovation across systems under pressure to drive improvement.