NHS 111 – improving access to urgent care

1. NHS 111 – improving access to urgent care Anna Walters-Holliday Commissioning Manager, NHS North Yorkshire and York 7th September 2012

2. What is NHS 111? • A new (free to call) telephone service for patients that will provide a single point of access to urgent health care services • Available 24 hours a day, 365 days per year • Staffed by fully trained advisors and supported by experienced clinicians • Assess the patient’s symptoms, give healthcare advice and direct them to the most appropriate service

3. When should you dial 111? • Patients should call NHS 111 for any of the following reasons: • you need medical help fast, but it’s not a 999 emergency • you don’t know who to call for medical help or you don't have a GP to call • you think you need to go to A&E or another NHS urgent care service • you require health information or reassurance about what to do next.

4. How does NHS 111 work? NHS 111 will: • Provide a clinical assessment at the first point of contact, without the need to call patients back • Direct people to the right NHS service, first time, without the need for them to be re-triaged • Be able to transfer clinical assessment data to other providers and book appointments for patients where appropriate

5. What benefits will NHS 111 bring? • Improve public access to urgent healthcare services • Increase the efficiency of the NHS by ensuring that people are able to quickly and easily access the healthcare services they need • Increase public satisfaction and confidence in the NHS • Enable the commissioning of more effective and productive healthcare services that are tuned to meet peoples’ needs • Increase the efficiency of the 999 emergency ambulance service by reducing non-emergency calls to 999.

6. When will NHS 111 be available? • We are aiming to make NHS 111 available by 1 April 2013 • There are currently two key pieces of work ongoing: • Mobilisation Planning following a successful procurement process • Development of the ‘Directory of Services’ which includes information on access to and the availability (in & out of hours) of healthcare services

7. What about NHS Direct? • NHS 111 will replace the NHS Direct 0845 4647 telephone number • Easier to remember three-digit number • Provides a more comprehensive service by delivering clinical assessments of callers’ needs at the first point of contact, and ensuring that they are directed straightaway to the service that is best able to meet these needs, taking into account their location, the time of day at which they call and the capacity of local services • Reduces the need for ‘call backs’

8. Public engagement • A national public consultation was conducted with OFCOM as part of the process of having the three digit number allocated • This showed that there was very strong public support for the service. • A number of other research projects with the public and these have consistently found strong public support for NHS 111.

9. How will the public be informed? • A public awareness campaign will be launched later this year about the introduction of NHS 111 • This will include a range of advertising and dissemination of information through local health services, the voluntary sector and wider information services such as Citizens Advice • We are currently looking at how best to recall materials that feature the NHS Direct number and replace them with details of NHS 111

10. For more information visit:www.nhs.uk/111