NHS England has today at its board meeting reassured patients that a good NHS 111 service is now operating in most of the country.  

The performance standards which have been introduced for NHS 111 represent a gold standard which the majority of NHS 111 services in England are now meeting, though in some areas performance is still unacceptable especially at weekends.  Some local providers of NHS 111 have not provided the prompt reliable service the public need and want. NHS England’s board is determined to ensure that the public have access to a gold standard NHS111 service wherever they live in England.

The NHS 111 service was introduced to deal with public concern and frustration in accessing NHS care, especially at weekends and out of hours. Calls from landlines and mobile phones are free, and the service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

NHS England has been working with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) who took on the responsibility for commissioning NHS 111 on 1 April 2013 to get the high standard of service patients and the public deserve across the whole of England

Today the board endorsed proposals to set up an external review, to enable us to be best placed to also take forward future complex projects.

Almost 90 percent of the country can now ring 111 to access urgent healthcare services especially out of normal working hours.  In areas where the service is not yet available, patients and the public should continue to ring 0845 46 47 or their own GP’s surgery.  If people do ring 111 in an area where the service is not yet available there will be a message that explains what to do to access urgent healthcare.