Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve NHS 111 response times.

The Government is committed to continuing to improve NHS 111 to ensure patients can access the right care the first time, only visiting accident and emergency when necessary.

The latest published data shows that May 2025 saw the lowest average NHS 111 call answer time since records began in April 2021, 4 seconds faster than in April 2025, and 58 seconds faster than in May 2024. The average NHS 111 call answer time in the year to date is 46 seconds, compared to 157 seconds in the same period in 2024.

Whilst NHS 111 response times have improved, we recognise there is more to do. On 6 June 2025, we published our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, which includes the commitment to publish and implement the recommendations from the NHS 111 review to make the service quicker and simpler to navigate.