Patients will be asked to call NHS 111 to book A+E appointments in efforts to avoid a winter crisis
Telegraph, 17 Sep 2020
NHS 111 will be the new "front door" for Accident and Emergency in order to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed this winter, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary has said.
Patients will be told to book appointments at casualty units in advance using the website and phone line in a bid to reduce the pressures on hospitals. They will be instructed to use the service as the "first point of call" for urgent medical care unless their situation is life-threatening.
A public communications campaign, called "Help Us Help You", will be launched later this year to direct people to the correct NHS service.
People will not be turned away if they go to A&E without contacting NHS 111, but will be warned that they may have to wait longer than other patients with similar health problems who had booked in via the 111 service.
Get the latest headlines:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/17/nhs-111-will-front-door-ae-stop-hospitals-overwhelmed/?WT.mc_id=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo-youtubevideo_16SeptNHS&utm_source=tmgoff&utm_medium=tmg_youtube&utm_content=offsite_televideo&utm_campaign=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo-youtubevideo_16SeptNHS
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Patients will be told to book appointments at casualty units in advance using the website and phone line in a bid to reduce the pressures on hospitals. They will be instructed to use the service as the "first point of call" for urgent medical care unless their situation is life-threatening.
A public communications campaign, called "Help Us Help You", will be launched later this year to direct people to the correct NHS service.
People will not be turned away if they go to A&E without contacting NHS 111, but will be warned that they may have to wait longer than other patients with similar health problems who had booked in via the 111 service.
Get the latest headlines:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/17/nhs-111-will-front-door-ae-stop-hospitals-overwhelmed/?WT.mc_id=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo-youtubevideo_16SeptNHS&utm_source=tmgoff&utm_medium=tmg_youtube&utm_content=offsite_televideo&utm_campaign=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo-youtubevideo_16SeptNHS
Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.
