Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 2 March 2026 to Question 110313 on NHS: Standards, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the variation between NHS trusts in protocols for monitoring patients after initial triage.

Patients are triaged upon initial entry to accident and emergency departments, after which their condition and any deterioration is monitored through observation at clinically appropriate intervals. How this happens and how often is down to local clinical decision making and governance.

There is a national target that patients receive an initial assessment within 15 minutes of arrival in accident and emergency. This assessment considers patient acuity, ensuring those most unwell and at greatest risk are identified and prioritised, so that clinical oversight can be adjusted accordingly and to ensure the sickest patients are seen first.

On 9 February 2026 NHS England published guidance on the Model Emergency Department, which is intended to set out a consistent national framework by defining the core principles and pathways of high‑performing emergency departments. The guidance recognises that there is variation in how emergency departments operate across National Health Service trusts, reflecting differences in local populations, clinical judgement, and governance arrangements.

The Model Emergency Department does not remove local decision‑making, but provides a shared national model, including extended emergency medicine ambulatory care, to support greater consistency, faster decision‑making across urgent and emergency care pathways, and stronger whole‑system responsibility for performance. This approach is intended to improve patient experience and patient flow, with lower waiting times and reduced overcrowding.