Urgent or unplanned care leads to at least 100 million NHS calls or visits each year, which represents about one-third of overall NHS activity and more than half the costs. 

Approximately one-quarter of all accident and emergency attendances could have been treated elsewhere and there is a consensus that the current system is unaffordable and unsustainable.

The NHS defines urgent care as the range of healthcare services available to those who need medical advice, diagnosis and/or treatment quickly and unexpectedly.

NHS England's Urgent and emergency care review is now in phase three of its implementation and a number of important changes to the system have been introduced. These include:

Urgent and emergency care vanguards. Eight new urgent and emergency care 'vanguard' sites are spear-heading the development of new care models for patients. Urgent care is being delivered, not just in hospitals but also by GPs, pharmacists, community teams, ambulance services, NHS 111, social care and others. Patients are also being given support and education to manage their own conditions

System resilience groups (SRGs). SRGs are forums where all the partners across the health and social care system come together to undertake regular planning of service delivery and ensure effective delivery of urgent care in their local area

Urgent and emergency care networks. These are regional networks that provide strategic oversight of urgent and emergency care

Sustainability and transformation plans. Every health and care system in England will produce a sustainability and transformation plan (STP), showing how local services will evolve and become sustainable over the next five years.

It is important that pharmacy professionals engage proactively in the development of new urgent and emergency care systems to show that they can deliver new models of care and improve patients' experiences when they need urgent advice or treatment.