CEM - Unscheduled Care Facilities

Unscheduled Care Facilities: Minimum requirements for units which see the less seriously ill or injured

Published July 2009

Click here to download the document (PDF)

The College of Emergency Medicine, together with the Faculty of Emergency Nursing and the Emergency Nurse Consultant Association, have set out what we consider to be the minimum requirements of units which see the less seriously ill or injured, so that they can provide safe, high quality, appropriately supervised and cost efficient care for patients. 

Unscheduled care facilities, including minor injury units, walk in centres and urgent care centres, often lack the full facilities and support services of acute trust Emergency Departments. The standards we recommend are relevant to both stand-alone units and co-located Urgent Care Facilities.

Unscheduled care facilities (UCFs) differ widely in resources, services provision and staffing, thus also the range of unscheduled work that they can safely carry out. It is of paramount importance that the local population, primary care trusts and health commissioners clearly understand the limitations of a given unit and use it appropriately.

We urge all providers of UCFs to implement the minimum requirements outlined in the document. We welcome any thoughts and comments you may have about the standards. Please write to: College of Emergency Medicine, Churchill House, 35 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4SG, or e-mail cem@collemergencymed.ac.uk

July 2009 (Click here to download a print version of this page)