Our news
Welcome to the August 2012 issue of NewsDirect, the e-bulletin that keeps you up to date on what's happening at NHS Direct. We hope you will find it interesting and informative.
Feel free to email your comments on the e-bulletin to stakeholders@nhsdirect.nhs.uk.
Focus on NHS 111
Update on procurements
NHS Direct has now been selected as the preferred provider of NHS 111 in over 30% of England's population, covering around six million calls each year. This includes the West Midlands and the North West, covering 10.3% and 13.5% of the population respectively.
Once the NHS 111 service is available to all of England’s population, the national 0845 4647 telephone service will be decommissioned. In accordance with local procurements and Cabinet Office guidelines, eligible front-line staff will transfer to new NHS 111 providers or remain with NHS Direct to deliver the services it has won.
Continuous improvement and development
NHS Direct has been delivering NHS 111 pilot services for around two years in four areas of the country – Nottingham, Lincolnshire, Luton and Lancashire. This has given us valuable insight which, where we have been selected to provide NHS 111, we are sharing with commissioners in order to drive continuous service improvement.
NHS 111 has the potential to significantly improve the way urgent care is delivered and the way patients access services. We will be working with local commissioners to discuss new and innovative ways of managing demand on critical services such as 999 and A&E and ensure that there are a range of suitable alternatives in place.
NHS Direct has also been sharing its experience of delivering a multi-channel service. A cross-disciplinary team of representatives from the NHS, the Department of Health, NHS Choices and NHS Direct are working on a project to consider options for delivering NHS 111 through digital channels and to test these through a prototype.
Contacting your NHS Direct Regional Director
If you would like more information about any of the articles in this bulletin or are interested in commissioning services from NHS Direct, please contact your Regional Director.
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Local teams
To discuss how we can tailor make our services to your requirements, why not get in touch with our regional director in your area?
Latest news
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28 January
NHS Direct’s processes for providing health advice receive NICE accreditation
The processes NHS Direct uses to develop clinical content have received accreditation from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
