Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what training is provided to the staff working on the NHS 111 service.

Initial training for call handlers within NHS 111 is an intensive training programme that spans 10 weeks in the case of call handlers, and 14 weeks in the case of clinicians. These programmes, and further information, incorporate several formal classroom-based training modules focusing on NHS Pathways use, distance learning materials, supervised practice supported by an Accredited Coach, consolidated practice and a ‘common learning programme’.

Once call handlers and clinicians start practising independently they are then subject to on-going performance management and professional development. The terms of the NHS Pathways “Licence to Use” mandate that all staff should be audited on a monthly basis. This involves listening to ‘live’ or recorded calls which are audited using a competency based audit tool.