Audit-specific guidance and standards
Source guidance for same-day emergency care and patient selection.
Same day emergency care
National overview of SDEC principles, expectations and delivery.
NHS England
Open
Same day emergency care service specification
Service specification describing expected SDEC model, hours and scope.
NHS England
Open
Ambulatory emergency care guide: clinical definition, patient selection and metrics
Patient selection principles and measurement approach for ambulatory emergency care.
NHS England
Open
SAMEDAY strategy
National strategy for expanding same-day emergency care and admission avoidance.
NHS England
Open
Acute frailty SDEC guidance
Guidance on frailty-specific same-day emergency care models.
NHS England
Open
Access to same day emergency care
Expectations for referral access routes into SDEC, including direct referral.
NHS England
Open
Acute medicine standards and resources
Use where locally adopted for acute medicine and SDEC service standards.
Society for Acute Medicine
Open
National Early Warning Score (NEWS2)
Use where NEWS2 is the local acuity assessment used in SDEC suitability decisions.
Royal College of Physicians
Open
Local trust references
Configure the URLs in Project setup so your team can open them here.
Local SDEC pathway
Configure in Setup
Local SDEC inclusion and exclusion criteria
Configure in Setup
Local ED streaming policy
Configure in Setup
Local ambulance direct referral pathway
Configure in Setup
Local GP / community direct referral pathway
Configure in Setup
Local frailty SDEC pathway
Configure in Setup
Local NEWS2 / deteriorating patient policy
Configure in Setup
Local sepsis policy
Configure in Setup
Local diagnostics access policy
Configure in Setup
Local discharge and safety-netting policy
Configure in Setup
Local patient information standard
Configure in Setup
Local information governance policy
Configure in Setup
Recommended Lazomis QI Resources
Published Lazomis QI articles selected for this audit topic.
Optimising Patient Flow Between Emergency Department and Acute Medical Unit
Patient Flow
Guide
SDEC depends on reliable flow between ED, acute medicine and same-day pathways, with early identification of suitable patients and avoidance of unnecessary admission.
Read article
How to Redesign an Acute Medical Pathway: A Practical Guide for NHS Teams
Service Redesign
How-to article
Supports redesign of referral routes, senior decision-making, diagnostics, treatment, discharge planning and escalation when SDEC is not appropriate.
Read article
Understanding and Optimising the Acute Patient Pathway
Patient Flow
Explainer
Explains how SDEC fits within streaming, assessment, investigation, treatment, admission avoidance, discharge safety and follow-up.
Read article
PDSA Cycles: A Practical Guide to Testing Change in Healthcare
Quality Improvement
Guide
Helps translate SDEC suitability findings into tested improvement cycles such as referral prompts, streaming changes and senior review workflows.
Read article
Tool categories
Website tags — for tool-library navigation.
Primary
Acute Medicine
Emergency Medicine / Urgent Care
Same-Day Emergency Care
Patient Flow
Clinical Governance
Secondary
General Medicine
Assessment Units
Ambulatory Care
Frailty
Older People's Medicine
Deteriorating Patient
Discharge and Follow-up
Diagnostics
Pharmacy / Medicines Safety
Handover and Continuity
Documentation and Records
Patient Safety
Service Improvement
Quality Improvement