Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of NHS 111 call handlers are medically trained; whether the triaging system is reviewed regularly; and if not, what plans they have to implement regular reviews.

The NHS 111 service available across England is staffed by fully trained Health Advisors who are appropriately, safely and timely advised by the NHS Pathways triage tool. This tool assists NHS 111 Health Advisors in appropriately transferring patients to range of clinical professionals via the Clinical Assessment Service.

The licensing requirements for NHS Pathways specify that Health Advisors should receive 10 weeks of training, comprising a mixture of learning, supervised and consolidated practice, to ensure that staff have a strong understanding and experience of the types of calls they may receive. Additionally, licensing requirements outline that sufficient numbers of clinicians must be available to provide full supervision to the number of Health Advisors on a particular shift.

We are continuously looking for ways to improve NHS 111 services and are committed to providing the best possible care for those who need it. The most recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission of all NHS 111 providers found that the minimum levels of quality were attained across providers to provide effective treatment.