Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards

The Model Emergency Department guidance, published in February 2026, sets out a consistent national framework describing the core principles and pathways of high-performing emergency departments. This is supported by guidance on extended emergency medicine ambulatory care services and the Model Acute Pathway, which sets out standards for the first 72 hours in hospital.

The Department expects the guidance to support improved patient outcomes by enabling better patient flow, reducing waiting times and overcrowding, and supporting earlier senior decision-making, which are all associated with safer and more timely care.

The guidance provides a shared national model to support greater consistency in urgent and emergency care provision, including clearer clinical pathways and more consistent approaches to ambulatory and acute care, while allowing flexibility for local health systems to tailor delivery to local need.

NHS England is supporting implementation through national guidance, including companion operating principles, and by asking providers to develop improvement plans aligned to the Model Emergency Department, including demand and capacity modelling. Support is also targeted towards the most challenged organisations through oversight arrangements, improvement teams, and established improvement programmes.