The standards were last fully updated in 2018, and the 2025 version of the standards will be the 5th edition of the document.
Updated standards coming soon
After a phased revision process agreed by the Intercollegiate Committee and the RCPCH, and shaped by extensive stakeholder consultation, the emergency care standards are scheduled for publication on this page in autumn 2025.
We will announce the 2025 standards in our member eBulletin and on social media.
About the standards
This new revision builds on previous editions, reinforcing core standards while introducing new ones to reflect changes in urgent and emergency care (UEC) practice and guidance since 2018.
The document addresses persistent challenges such as demand-capacity imbalance, Emergency Department (ED) crowding, and escalation policies, and includes expanded guidance on ED design, workforce organisation, staff wellbeing, triage, PEWS and patient streaming. New standards cover safeguarding, mental health care, and support for children and young people (CYP) with complex needs.
A new chapter on health inequalities tackles current issues in paediatric emergency care, while updates to major incident planning, safe transfers and end-of-life care reflect best practice. The final chapters on information systems and research have been refreshed to align with sector developments. These standards aim to support emergency department staff in delivering high-quality care to CYP, both systemically and individually.
Audit toolkit
There will be a new RCPCH audit toolkit based on the updated standards, which will be available on this web page in late 2025. The audit toolkit will support organisations in adopting and benchmarking themselves against the updated emergency care standards and with the wider suite of the Facing the Future standards. It will serve as a comprehensive resource to support Trusts and EDs in assessing their readiness and compliance to the standards.
We had developed an audit toolkit on the 2018 standards, and and in 2022 we published the summary of audit findings reported by 91 emergency departments from 2018 to early 2020. This audit toolkit is no longer available.
Facing the Future suite of standards
The wider suite of Facing the Future standards are undergoing the revision process and are expected to be published in spring 2026.