SDEC Suitability Audit

This project audits the quality, completeness and reliability of SDEC suitability assessment and documentation. It reviews whether suitable patients are identified early, streamed or referred appropriately, assessed against local SDEC criteria, managed safely, discharged the same day where appropriate, or admitted with a clear documented reason.

• SDEC, ambulatory emergency care and acute medicine teams
• Emergency department, urgent treatment and front-door assessment teams
• Frailty and surgical assessment teams where SDEC pathways exist
• Nurses, ACPs, physician associates, pharmacists, site and patient-flow teams
• Urgent and emergency care leads, QI leads, governance teams and educators

• Measure whether SDEC suitability is considered and documented for eligible patients
• Assess documentation of referral source, presenting pathway, inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Assess escalation, senior review, same-day plans, discharge, follow-up and admission reasons
• Identify variation by clinical area / location and optional specialty / service
• Generate governance-ready and ARCP-ready evidence

• Anonymous case identifier
• Inclusion / eligibility decision
• Anonymised biodata (age band, recorded sex/gender, care setting, assessment context)
• Clinical area / location and optional specialty / service
• Fourteen SDEC suitability criteria (met / not met / not applicable)
• Free-text learning points and any project custom fields

• Live dashboard
• Audit report (Word)
• Executive summary (Word)
• Excel workbook
• PowerPoint presentation
• Conference poster
• ARCP evidence summary

This ready-built project is developed using the guidance, standards and authoritative sources listed below, so you can see what is being measured and why. Lazomis QI does not publish or own this guidance, and inclusion here does not imply endorsement or approval by any of these organisations.

• NHS England

  Same Day Emergency Care(opens the original source in a new tab)

  National description of SDEC services, patient selection and expected models of same-day assessment, treatment and discharge.

• NHS England

  Reducing length of stay and improving urgent and emergency care flow(opens the original source in a new tab)

  National framing for admission avoidance, front-door streaming and flow between ED, AMU and SDEC pathways.

• Designed to use anonymised or pseudonymised audit identifiers.
• This tool supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement.
• Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.
• Organisations remain responsible for local governance arrangements.
• This tool supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement. Follow local policy, formulary and specialist advice.
• Use anonymous case identifiers only — never patient-identifiable information.

Supporting guidance from the Lazomis QI Resource Library. Authoritative clinical standards referenced by this project remain separate.

• Patient FlowOptimising Patient Flow Between Emergency Department and Acute Medical UnitThis guide explores common challenges in patient flow between the Emergency Department (ED) and Acute Medical Units (AMU), offering practical strategies for improvement, focusing on clinical and operational alignment.
• Clinical GovernanceLeveraging Incident Themes for Quality Improvement and Patient SafetyThis guide helps NHS teams identify and analyse recurring incident themes, transforming reported safety events into practical quality improvement opportunities to enhance patient safety and system reliability.
• Patient FlowWeekend Discharge: Balancing Patient Flow and SafetyThis guide examines the opportunities and risks associated with weekend discharge in the NHS, offering practical considerations for improving patient flow while maintaining safety and quality of care.
• Patient FlowOptimising Acute Medical Unit (AMU) Flow: Strategies for Better Patient JourneysThis article provides practical, NHS-focused strategies for optimising patient flow within Acute Medical Units (AMUs). It covers identifying bottlenecks, enhancing discharge planning, and streamlining bed management to improve patient journeys and resource utilisation.