Four medical and royal colleges have come together to produce the guidance for commissioners and service providers.
It identifies clear standards and stresses the importance of good planning of urgent and emergency care services for children and young people.
It sets out the principles for commissioning and provision of services, with links and references to useful material and standards embedded within the text.
Among the recommendations in the nine page document are: clear needs assessment and modeling that reflects demand and casemix and safe provision for the age group requiring separate consideration from adults provision.
It also calls for audits and quality assessment and alternatives to hospital admission, among others recommendations.
Much information already exists about urgent and emergency care commissioning, such as recent guidance hosted on the
RCGP website.
This new document should be read alongside other guidance, and covers special aspects of children’s and young people's care.
It has been drafted in the hope that the specific needs of children and young people are prioritised when designing and improving emergency and urgent care services in the reformed NHS.
Those behind the joint statement are the RCGP, RCN, RCPCH, and CEM.
