The public tell us who SDEC patients are

by Ciarán McInerney and Howard Whiting

We hosted our first workshop with members of the public to describe the kinds of people best suited to SDEC services. We also met with members of the Deep End Research Alliance (DERA) to collaborate on a project about urgent care hubs.

On Monday 3rd March 2025, some of our research team facilitated a workshop with members of the public. The purpose of the workshop was to collect descriptions of the kind of person that is intended and suitable for same day emergency care (SDEC) services. The intended output was a list of descriptions of patients who are intended and suitable for SDEC services that can be operationalised by the research team to programmatically identify patients from routinely-collected electronic health records.

The workshop made use of the Think-Pair-Share approach in response to short presentations on particular topics. Participants contributed their own, hand-written notes on post-its, throughout the session.

The facilitators prompted participants with the 2024 same day emergency care service specification, and the distinction between ‘emergency care’, ‘same day care’, ‘same day emergency care’, and ‘care from a same day emergency care service’.

Would you agree with our distinctions? Try our interactive game.

Download the infographic

After the workshop, the facilitators thematically analysed participants’ contributions, suggesting eight themes (see below).

Key themes were 'Life context', 'Need to find out more', and 'Waiting for tests and test results'. The output of the workshop is summarised below. The complete infographic is at the very end or can be downloaded by clicking on the image to the right.

SDEC PPI workshop#1.pdf

What patients think needs to be considered for SDEC referrals

Falls and frailty

Participants felt that SDEC services are ideal for accidents like falls because patients need to be observed after being treated but hospitalisation isn't needed.

"Need to find out more"

There was general agreement that SDEC services are appropriate when more time and tests are needed to understand the patient's problem.

Transfusion

From personal experience, some participants thought that SDEC services are well suited to blood transfusions because it is a same-day treatment that needs its own space.

Waiting for tests and test results

Many people felt that the SDEC would be better than A&E to wait for tests and test results.

Note: The SDEC Service Specification doesn't explicitly forbid this but it does say that SDECs shouldn't be used for waiting.

Treatment for minor infections

Several participants shared experiences of being sent to SDEC services for intravenous (IV) antibiotics. IV antibiotics take expertise, time, and monitoring, which SDEC services can provide.

Life context

Hospitalisation and noisy A&Es can negatively affect people with mental or behaviour difficulties, and can disrupt at-home care plans.

Many patients shared stories about how same-day care helped them or their loved ones because it accommodated the person's life beyond just their presenting complaint.

"Act now?"

Participants weren't sure how very urgent situations should be handled. Should A&E deal with urgent patient needs?

Note: Services like A&E, SDEC, and Minor Injury Units all deal with urgent and emergency situations. A key criteria for SDEC services is that the patient is fit enough to "walk in and walk out" on their own. The precursor to SDEC was called "Ambulatory Emergency Care".

"Other services are more appropriate"

Participants thought of many examples where other health services would be more appropriate than SDEC.

Many hospital websites explain the alternatives and how they can help you, e.g. East Lancashire Hospital.

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