Patients urged to call NHS 111 before attending A&E in new bid to prevent Covid-19 spike
Patients will be urged to call NHS 111 first before attending A&E in a new move aimed at helping to prevent a second coronavirus spike.
Health chiefs in the Black Country and Staffordshire say the roll-out of the scheme would help tackle overcrowding in hospitals – and curb the virus spread.
It comes as space in hospital emergency departments had dwindled by around 50 per cent due to virus measures and restrictions in place.
The NHS 111-First policy, due to be rolled out in December, will see people call before travelling to A&E – with patients with less serious issues advised to see a GP or pharmacist.
Those with more serious issues will be given a dedicated time slot to visit the emergency departments, with people still urged to call 999 in an emergency.
People, however, will still be able to visit A&E without going through the scheme, papers from a board meeting of the NHS England and NHS Improvement Board revealed.
Dr Pir Shah, clinical lead for West Midlands Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care, said conversations were taking place to introduce the measure in the region.
Dr Shah said: "In recent weeks the number of people visiting these departments has risen. At the same time, due to social distancing and infection precautions, the space in those departments is reduced by around 30 to 50 per cent.
"We need to keep patients and NHS staff safe throughout our services. This includes being able to provide emergency care safely by ensuring appropriate distancing in waiting rooms.
"Across the Black Country and West Birmingham we are talking to partners and hoping to introduce NHS-111 First before we move into the busier winter period.
"We will ensure that patients are told when this new option is available to them, so that we can all work together to protect the NHS and ensure services are there for people when they need them."
Chiefs hope the initiative – which has already been piloted in areas including Portsmouth and London – will ensure people receive the right care, as well as reducing the number of people attending A&E.
And in turn it means the risk of spreading coronavirus, flu and other infections, is reduced with waiting times also cut ahead of a predicted busy winter for the health service.
The Together We're Better partnership, which aims to transform healthcare in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, said the move would deliver a "better experience" for patients.
A spokesman said said: "We need to keep our urgent care services, including A&Es, safe for patients and staff especially whilst Covid-19 is still in circulation.
"This includes working differently to support social distancing in waiting rooms and clinical settings.
"Parts of the country are trialling asking patients that think they need to go to A&E to call NHS 111 first, so that we can help direct them to the right service for their needs.
"We are working with clinicians to develop our local approach to meet the needs of our population to help manage demand this winter.
"In future our ambition is to support NHS 111 to book patients directly into the most appropriate service for their needs, which we hope will deliver a better experience and shorten waiting times.
"We will aim to keep people informed and involved as we develop this service for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent over the coming months."
Winter pressures
Health chiefs are hoping the introduction of the NHS 111-First scheme will help improve services and prevent overcrowding.
Concerns have already been raised by bosses over a potentially busy winter – with the flu vaccine roll-out and fears over a second spike.
But leaders hope the roll-out of the service, earmarked for December, will alleviate the issue – as well as speeding up waiting times.
Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, told MPs they were piloting the system to find the "right model".
Professor Powis said: "Clearly, we want to ensure that our A&E departments do not become crowded, and that has always been important to us.
"Of course it is even more important now that we have Covid in the background, and we need to keep patients and staff safe.
"Extra prevention control and distancing are important parts of that. There is a variety of ways in which we can address that.
"One of them is that we use our 111 service, and services prior to the A&E department, to signpost people and to help people, and ensure that they get their treatment in the most appropriate place."
The process has already gone live in Portsmouth, London and Blackpool to help them "carefully" manage the numbers of people attending.
Professor Powis added: "We want to move, as we wanted to move before Covid, increasingly to a 111 first model that ensures we do everything we can to give appropriate advice to signpost people to the most appropriate place for treatment. "
A report to the NHS England and NHS Improvement Board said: "The Covid-19 pandemic of has had a profound effect upon the delivery of NHS services and the behaviour of the general public in the way they access healthcare.
"We have seen rapid service change so that patients who are Covid positive receive the treatment they need, while at the same time protecting non-Covid patients.
"There is an urgent clinical and operational imperative that Emergency Department crowding does not return to pre-Covid levels.
"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."
An advertising campaign will be launched in December to advise people of the changes and will form part of a campaign alerting people to winter pressures.
