Our vision for Urgent and Emergency Care is to create a health and care system that provides responsive, accessible person-centred services as close to home as possible. It will be a model in which services will wrap care around the individual, promoting self-care and independence, enhancing recovery and reablement, through integrated health and social care services that exploit innovation and promote care in the right setting at the right time. As well as urgent and emergency care provider, acute care, community services, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and General Practice have a pivotal role to play in this ambition. We believe that a fully integrated Urgent and Emergency Care system with consistency of access, will make it easier for patients to navigate our system and use alternatives acute services where appropriate.

In November 2020 our system introduced NHS 111 First -  instead of attending an Emergency Department unannounced, patients will be encouraged to use NHS 111 online or by phone to book an appointment with a service that best fits their need.

That could be one of a variety of existing out-of-hospital services, an assessment service at an acute hospital, or an appointment with a GP or dentist.

In cases where it is appropriate, patients will be given a ‘time slot’ appointment at the Emergency Department itself.