NHS 111: Ambulance Services

(asked on 26th February 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the reasons are for the increased number of ambulance dispatches from NHS111.


Answered by
Steve Barclay Portrait
Steve Barclay
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This question was answered on 6th March 2018

The proportion of NHS111 triaged calls that result in an ambulance dispatch in the last 12 months has been relatively stable for England, with a 0.1% reduction between January 2017 and January 2018.

The public should call 999 for life threatening emergencies that require an immediate response. However, if a call to NHS 111 is assessed as being a medical emergency, the service is able to dispatch an ambulance directly, and provide first aid advice to the caller until the paramedics arrive, without the need to transfer the call, or for the caller to repeat information. NHS England outlined the aims and objectives of the NHS 111 service, including the management of calls requiring an ambulance, in the National Service Specification for Integrated Urgent Care published in August 2017.

NHS England collects and publishes the NHS 111 Minimum Data Set. Published information includes a statistical release summarising the most recent data and a range of supplementary data files containing information from 2010 to the most recent month. Data are published at a range of geographical levels, including NHS111 Contract Service Areas, NHS111 Providers, NHS England regions and England. Data are available on the NHS England website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-111-minimum-data-set/nhs-111-minimum-data-set-2017-18

Reticulating Splines