This framework aims to provide a unified, systematic and structured approach to detection and assessment of acute hospital urgent and emergency care (UEC) operating pressures; provide a consistent framework for the proportional representation of each acute trust hospital’s OPEL score toward the corresponding integrated care system (ICS), NHS England regions, and NHS England nationally; provide guidance to acute hospital trusts, ICS and NHS England regions that supports an effective, integrated and coordinated response to acute trust operational pressures and provide guidance on the alignment of, and interaction between, the OPEL Framework 2023/24 and the national Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) framework.

The OPEL Framework 2023/24 replaces all previous versions of the NHS OPEL Framework.