NHS organisations across the North West are working to implement the new national NHS 111 First programme.
NHS 111 First is part of a national integrated programme to improve outcomes and experience of urgent and emergency care.
To keep patients who are thinking about attending an emergency department safe and allow them to maintain social distancing, they will be asked to contact NHS 111 first. The service will then book them into a time slot in an emergency department or at the most appropriate local service for the patient.
All patients who need a blue light response will still receive one and no patient will be turned away if they self-present to an emergency department, but will be provided with the most appropriate form of care, for example referral to another part of the hospital or another site.
Drawing on our learning from COVID-19 and building on our existing programme, our ambition is to improve the offer for patients, delivering improved outcomes and a better experience of care, whether that is by phone or online from NHS 111, at home from a paramedic, in a GP practice or pharmacy or when necessary in emergency department. Through changing the way that the urgent and emergency care system is both perceived and accessed by the patient, we will improve services and reduce the risk to patients by minimising unnecessary healthcare contacts.
The programme is being rolled out in a phased approach in the North West, which started with two ‘first mover’ sites, at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Trust. This enabled all organisations involved to test the process, check its safety, understand any system impacts and evaluate the service, from which other areas could take learning from.
In Morecambe Bay, the programme will be launched on Wednesday 11 November 2020.
NHS 111 First is due to be fully in place nation-wide by 1 December.