Developing how NHS111 helps you

Thank you for everyone who shared their views about NHS111 and how it is changing. We are currently analysing the survey and will publish the results as soon as they are available.

NHS111, ambulance services, GP services and community services are working even closer together to provide local people with the right care in the right place at the right time.

Not everybody needs the same help when they call NHS111. One person may want to know where their local pharmacy is, another may need a community nurse and someone else may need to speak to a doctor.

Working together we are developing access to healthcare professionals who will be able to advise on the most appropriate clinical care, including callers with mental health problems, medication requirements and children’s health issues.

To ensure patients receive advice or treatment tailored for their needs our healthcare professionals are starting to review some 999 calls and calls that advise a caller to go to their local Accident and Emergency Department (A&E), so that ambulances are dispatched only to patients who need one and to avoid unnecessary journeys to A&E.

We have also introduced NHS111 online as another way of using the service to make it easier for local people to get the urgent advice and support they need.

How is the service changing?

We are introducing clinical advisors in some areas who are able to review cases and support the person who takes your call. This means that now patients may be:

Offered care and advice from a range of healthcare professionals within the service which include mental health nurses, child health clinicians, GPs and pharmacists, and speaking directly to the person they need
Advised they need to see a healthcare professional urgently, which includes mental health nurses, child health clinicians, GPs and pharmacists, and offered an appointment which the service can book for them
Advised they need to see a GP in the next few days with, in some areas, the service making an appointment.