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2. What is NHS 111?

NHS 111 is a free to call number available 24 hours per day; 7 days per week; 365 days per annum to respond to people healthcare needs when They need medical help fast but its not thought to be a 999 emergency They don’t know who to call or don’t have a GP to call They think they need to go to A & E or another NHS urgent care service They need health information or reassurance about what to do next Callers are put through to a team of highly trained call advisers, who are supported by experienced nurses/clinicians. They use a clinical assessment system and ask questions of the caller to assess needs and determine the best course of action.

That course of action may be that it is assessed that the patient does face an emergency which needs an ambulance despatched without delay, and the NHS 111 provider will be able to do so It may be just that the caller needs advice; information or reassurance and that will be provided It may however be that the caller needs further care or advice which needs to be provided by a local service. The call handler will have access to a Directory of Services (DoS), maintained and validated by Commissioners which will detail services available at that time .

Calls will be transferred without the caller having to repeat their information or being retriaged; where possible appointments will be booked and call backs will be the exception rather than the norm Callers may also be signposted to other services where the nature of their need is outside the scope of NHS 111 The NHS 111 service will be expected to deliver a range of benefits:Improving the public’s access to urgent healthcare services Increasing the efficiency of the NHS by directing patients to the right care, right place, right time Increasing public satisfaction and confidence in the NHS Increasing the efficiency of the 999 emergency ambulance service by reducing the number of non emergency 999 calls and the number of avoidable ambulance journeys Providing health professionals with a contact point to access information around service availability – on line and where there is no access to the internet via a telephone line Rolling out NHS 111 across Yorkshire & the Humber –Board paper Nov 2011