New NHS 111 telephone service on track for autumn launch

Date: Tuesday, August 27th 2013
Categories: All Leicestershire

The NHS 111 service is a new telephone service being introduced across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to make it easier for the public to access local health services when they need help quickly.

The service will be staffed by a team of fully trained advisers, supported by experienced nurses, who will ask questions to assess the patient's symptoms, give healthcare advice and direct them to the right local service as quickly as possible. This can include an out-of-hours doctor, walk-in centre or urgent care centre, community nurse, emergency dentist or late-opening chemist. In an emergency, an ambulance will be sent immediately without the need for any further assessment.

One of the key objectives is to ensure that people receive the right care, from the right person, in the right place, at the right time. The NHS 111 service will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, via the new free to call, easy to remember three-digit number.

The local NHS 111 development and testing programme is progressing well and the service is on target for full roll out across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland by the end of October. There is a strong focus on ensuring that staffing levels, training and systems meet the high standards expected by the three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in West Leicestershire, East Leicestershire and Rutland, and Leicester City who are responsible for the service locally. Plans are in place to make the phased launch straightforward for patients so important changes such as the transition from the current NHS Direct telephone service to NHS 111 will be as seamless as possible.

Click here to find out more about the new service