NHS Direct

Winter planning - it's all about preparation

Like all other NHS organisations, NHS Direct has produced detailed capacity plans for the coming winter months when demands on the service are expected to be high.

Recent winters have shown unusual patterns such as extreme weather and stronger strains of the flu virus, which have tested our resources. As a result, we have learned lessons that have enabled us to better prepare for future periods of unexpected high demand.

Escalation planning forms an integral part of the system resilience plans for the organisation and ultimately provides appropriate and timely care for all patients. This year, we have clearly defined trigger points to ensure early identification of potential demand and capacity issues. Ongoing changes in activity will be monitored by the Health Protection Agency Real Time Syndromic Surveillance Team, and this will influence our plans as winter draws on.

Working as a virtual call centre allows flexibility to move calls nationally across sites to manage peaks and troughs in activity and roster staff accordingly.

Winter planning 2011-12

As in previous years we will continue with our tried and tested plans which include:

Maximising existing capacity: this includes offering staff incentives to cover peak times, an increase in nurse advisor home-working to cover short periods at peak times, and increased use of trained temporary staff who can be mobilised quickly and safely.
Web-first: we shall be expanding and promoting our suite of online health and symptom checkers for patients with internet and smartphone access.
Working with our NHS partners: we maintain an up-to-date database of all local and national health services across England such as hospitals, community and mental health services and out-of-hours providers. The database can be quickly modified if services are altered or extended during peak times.
Ambulance services: calls to 999 are ‘streamed’ by health advisors using prioritisation protocols ensuring emergency calls receive help with minimal delay.
Clever rostering: forecasts are prepared using historical data trend analysis and any known future impacts.

The above plans are reinforced by a clear internal escalation process, an out-of-hours on-call team, and clinical governance protocols to maintain a safe and appropriate service for our patients.

View NHS Direct’s Winter Capacity plan.

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Details of NHS Direct’s winter messaging and communications plan can be found on the NHS Comms Link website. Please note, this is a secure network. Access is restricted to NHS communicators in England. To access this site, please send an email to NHS Comms link.

Downloads

Winter Capacity Plan 2011-12 (PDF)

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