What is SDEC?

SDECs and same day emergency care 

Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services are an initiative encouraged in the NHS Long-Term Plan to reduce crowding in emergency departments and in hospitals.

These SDEC services are intended to fill the gap between the short-duration care for which A&Es are intended and the long-duration care for which patients are admitted to hospitals.

SDEC services are expected to help by providing a location, staff, and equipment to deliver care that would have been given:

1. during short hospital admissions, and

2. long stays in A&E

...neither of which are desirable for patients or hospitals.

How is an SDEC different from an A&E?

SDEC sound a lot like A&E. They both have "emergency" in their name, they are designed to care for you quickly, and they are often located close together.

The main differences are:

1. opening times, and

2. duration of care.

SDEC services might only be open for a few hours a few days a week, while A&Es are often open round the clock, everyday. And SDEC services are design to give the care that would take longer than A&E could give (but take less time than a hospital admission).

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