NHS 111 First Sitrep Direction requirements specification

Since July 2020, NHS England has been rolling out NHS 111 First to encourage patients to call NHS 111 for triage before attending A&E services. Data are currently being collected from early implementer sites in some local areas via a spreadsheet return.  Frequent and regular information will be required from all relevant providers as the new service is implemented across the country.

This collection will monitor the impact of the service by looking at changes to flows of patients through the wider Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) system and whether using 111 as the default triage mechanism for UEC patients results in more efficient use of NHS resource.

The development of NHS 111 First is aligned to the five-year forward view for NHS Urgent and Emergency Care published in 2017.

For the avoidance of doubt, these Directions are separate from and will not impact the Establishment of Information Systems for NHS Services: NHS 111 Pathways Directions 2017. 

The scope of the collection is England.

Aggregate information will primarily be collected from Integrated Urgent Care (IUC) service providers or a Commissioning Support Unit (CSU).

The following aggregate counts will be collected on a weekly basis:

1. Number of ambulance dispositions.

2. Number of callers recommended to attend an Emergency Department (ED)

3. Number of callers recommended to attend Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC)

4. Number of callers recommended to contact primary care services

5. Number of callers recommended to contact another service

6. Number of callers recommended any other outcome

7. Number of calls where caller given appointment at an ED

8. Number of calls where caller given an appointment with an SDEC service

9. Number of calls where caller given an appointment with another secondary care service

10. Number of calls where caller given an appointment with an in-hours GP Practice

11. Number of calls where caller given an appointment with a GP outside of core hours

12. Number of calls where caller given an appointment with an Integrated Urgent Care (IUC) Treatment Centre

13. Number of calls where caller given an appointment with an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC)

14. Number of calls where caller given an appointment with another primary care service. 

This is an ongoing collection (relating to numbers of calls by priority type and numbers of call backs by clinicians within the agreed timeframe) collected weekly. 

Internal processing

NHS Digital will validate the data collected and prepare it for dissemination to NHS England and NHSE analysts who will import the data into reports which will be circulated internally for management purposes.

Data linkage

No linkage is initially required; however, the Directions contain the legal basis to do so should linkage be necessary to achieve the purpose of the Direction in the future.  

In the development of this collection, consultation has been carried out with:

1. NHS England - the directing organisation
2. NHS England - policy leads and analysts.
3. NHS 111 providers - the collection has been piloted in NHS 111 First early implementer sites, including Portsmouth, London, the North East and Cornwall since August 2020 and feedback has been taken on board.
4. NHS Commissioners and service representatives.

Regular Dissemination/sharing

Aggregate data will be disseminated to analysts at NHS England and NHS Improvement via NHS Digital’s Secure Electronic File Transfer (SEFT) Solution.

Data Access Request Service (DARS)

Data will not be disseminated via DARS.NHS Digital is directed not to share the data obtained by complying with these directions under its powers in section 261(1) and s261(4) without the prior agreement of NHS England.

Data to be published

NHS Digital is directed not to publish the data obtained by complying with the Directions without the prior agreement of NHS England.

No new systems are being developed as the data will be collected using NHS Digital’s Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS). Collected data will be loaded into NHS Digital’s Data Management Environment (DME) where all subsequent processing will take place.

Changes to this Specification will be managed in conjunction with NHS England to ensure that any changes are within scope of the NHS 111 First Sit Rep Directions 2020.