• NHS England and NHS Improvement have published the clinical review of standards for urgent care.
• The proposed bundle of 10 measures takes account of changes in the way that urgent and emergency care is delivered, such as the roll-out of same day emergency care and strengthening of NHS 111.
• Hospitals will be expected to see and assess patients within 15 minutes.

Responding to the clinical review of standards proposals published by NHS England and NHS Improvement, the director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin, said:

"Trust leaders recognise the importance of ensuring that performance standards support good clinical practice, leading to safe, timely, high quality care for patients.

"The way urgent and emergency care is provided has moved on significantly, and we support a broad set of measures capturing more of the patient journey.

"Some of these steps, including the focus on 12-hour waits in A&E and a number of measures designed to capture system wide support for emergency care will deliver real improvements for patients.

"It is good to see a consensus evolving behind these proposals reflected in the consultation.

“However as demand for emergency treatment gathers pace, alongside the continuing COVID-19 commitments and the need to address the care backlog, it is important that trusts are given the time and space they need to transform urgent and emergency care alongside other priorities.

“We have also been clear that the changes should be backed by a credible, fully funded plan to recover performance levels, and they should be presented in a way that is meaningful to patients and the public."