NHS 111 saved over 12 million A&E visits

New figures from NHS England and Improvement have revealed that the NHS 111 urgent care advice line has saved over 12 million unnecessary A&E visits.

With 80 million calls to 111 made between its foundation in April 2011 and September 2018, analysis has revealed that more than one in four people, 28 per cent, would otherwise have had to go to A&E. A further 16 per cent would have phoned for an ambulance, meaning 111 prevented three million 999 calls that could have resulted in unnecessary ambulance call outs.

The NHS 111 service dealt with almost 75,000 extra calls over this winter, with the proportion of calls receiving input from a clinician increasing to 53.7 per cent in March 2019, compared to 48.8 per cent in March 2018.

Stephen Powis, national medical director for England said: “The NHS is there whenever and however people need care. Ambulances and A&E will always be there in an emergency, but people can now also be helped quickly and expertly by phone, online and thanks to our Long Term Plan through new and upgraded services like Urgent Treatment Centres and our Clinical Assessment Service accessed via NHS 111.”

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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