Engagement on new Government Policy Framework: Emergency and Acute Care

The start of a new government term provides an important opportunity to set a clear national direction for emergency and acute care, aligning partners behind shared priorities to improve outcomes, experience and value for the population of Wales.

With the previous Government’s ‘Six Goals for Urgent and Emergency Care policy handbook’ now concluded, we want to work with people, communities and partners across Wales to ensure services provide timely access, high-quality care and better outcomes for our sickest and most complex patients.

Emergency and acute care services play a vital role in supporting people when they experience illness or injury that requires rapid assessment, treatment, coordination, specialist care or hospital admission. These services work closely with primary care, community services, mental health services, social care and the third sector.

The intent is for the policy framework to set a clear direction to the end of the Government term in 2030 and describe how partners across Wales can work together to improve outcomes for people with the most serious and complex emergency and acute hospital care needs.

It will complement, rather than duplicate, the Community by Design and Integrated Community Care Systems programmes. While those programmes lead vital work on prevention, population health, chronic condition management, anticipatory care and community-based support, this framework will focus on the emergency and acute care contribution to whole-system outcomes.

We hope you will support this policy development and help shape the future of emergency and acute care.

In engaging with stakeholders, we are seeking to understand:
• The key challenges facing people who require emergency and acute care.
• What is currently working well and should be strengthened.
• Areas where outcomes, experience or access need to improve – particularly where there is avoidable delay across the system and where care is not delivered in evidenced-based timeframes.
• The most important priorities across emergency and acute care for the next 4- and 10-year periods.
• How services can work more effectively together across organisational and sector boundaries and how transitions of care can be improved for the betterment of outcome, experience, and value.

As part of the framework development, we are also considering how we can strengthen our current emergency department and acute hospital information and how we use our data as transparently and effectively as possible to measure what is clinically meaningful and what matters to patients and staff. This includes our approach to measuring corridor care.

Your insights and expertise will play an important role in ensuring the policy framework reflects the needs of people and communities across Wales and supports meaningful and deliverable improvement.

A short stakeholder discussion guide is being developed to help inform stakeholder feedback and conversations. We will also set up some specific groups to drive forward early delivery opportunities. Any relevant experiences, evidence, feedback or examples of good practice from your organisation or networks would be gratefully received. Officials will be in touch with you or your teams with further information.

A renewed policy framework will ensure emergency and acute care services are equipped to meet future demand, reduce unwarranted variation and deliver timely, high-quality care for people across Wales. Thank you in advance for your support and contribution to this important work.