Winter Daily 111 collection: RETIRED

NHSE will access the data via the SDCS portal and will compile the data into an Excel report by 2.00 each day.  The report will be circulated to the central operations team, policy colleagues, regional UEC leads and both regional and national winter rooms.  NHSI will also use the data and will feed it into their daily winter Tableau reports.  They will all be using the data to assess build-up of pressure within 111 providers.  Policy colleagues would work directly with providers to manage any increase in demand and other colleagues and winter rooms in particular, will be using the data to assess any likely impact that increase in demand will have on hospital trusts – particularly A&E departments.

Data will be collected from 111 providers on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of each week.  There will be no collection on a Monday as we will use the existing weekly 111 collection submitted on a Monday to access data for Friday to Sunday.

Data will need to be submitted on SDCS by 12pm each day, in order that we can circulate a report internally by 2pm each day.

Data items

The following 10 data items will be collected, and for the first 9 data items the figures submitted should be the totals for the 24 hours ending at midnight – so on a Tuesday we would be collecting data for the 24 hours ending at midnight Monday night.  For the total call handle time providers should report the total time since the last time they provided that figure (so on a Tuesday we would be collecting data for the 96 hours ending at midnight Monday night).

• total number of calls offered                    
• number of abandoned calls after 30 seconds                     
• number of answered calls                          
• answered within 60 seconds                     
• calls where person triaged
• number of calls to a clinician                        
• ambulance dispatches                 
• recommended to attend A&E                  
• recommended to attend primary care                 
• total Call Handle Time

Data definitions

The first 9 data items are taken from the weekly 111 collection and use the same data definitions. The full guidance document is published on NHS England's website. 

But the following extracts from that document covers the definitions for these items:

• 5.3 Number of calls offered

All calls received by single point of access. A call is received as soon as the call connects to the service’s telephony system, that is, hits the providers switch.

• 5.6 Number of abandoned calls

Of the calls offered in item 5.3 and reaching 30 seconds following being queued for an advisor, how many did the caller hang up before they were answered?

• 5.7 Number of answered calls

Of the calls offered in item 5.3, how many were answered, that is, the call handler given the caller?

• 5.10 Number of calls answered within 60 seconds

Of the answered calls received in item 5.7, how many were answered within 60 seconds of being queued for an advisor?

• 5.11 Number of calls where person triaged

Of the answered calls received in item 5.7, how many were triaged at some point during their call? For the purposes of the MDS a triaged call is where the clinical assessment tool has been opened and used.

• 5.22 Calls to a clinician

Of the total answered calls received in item 5.7, how many were transferred to, or answered by, a trained clinician without a lapsed professional certification, working within the Clinical Assessment Service (clinical hub). This data item includes, but is not limited to, all the calls counting towards 5.16; although a single call transferred to a clinical advisor using a CDSS and also to another clinician in the CAS should only count once. “Transferred” includes both live transfers and call backs.

Clinical Assessment Service

A call answered by or transferred to a clinician within a Clinical Assessment Service (CAS) can be counted if all the following requirements are met:

1. The caller speaks to a Clinical Advisor using a CDSS (as in a ‘traditional’ NHS 111 service), or a clinician not using a CDSS;

2. The telephone call is recorded by voice recording software and is available for Call Review purposes;

3. The outcome of the call (what happens to the patient at the end of the call) is captured (in whatever system they are employing) by the clinician and this outcome and all other elements of the patient call are available;

4. The call has presented to and routed through the national NHS 111 telephony network; this includes, but is not limited to, any call which may be routed via an Interactive Voice Response process at a local level.

• 5.23 Number of emergency ambulance final dispositions.

The number of final dispositions that result in an emergency ambulance being dispatched.

• 5.24 Number of callers recommended to attend an A&E

Of the triaged and non-triaged calls received in items 5.11, and where an ambulance has not been dispatched, how many were referred to a type 1 or 2 A&E department (defined in Hospital Episode Statistics A&E data dictionary1). This excludes a walk-in centre, minor injuries unit and urgent care centre.

• 5.25 Number of callers recommended to attend other primary care services

Of the triaged and non-triaged calls received in items 5.11, and where an ambulance has not been dispatched, how many were referred to a primary care service. A referral is a suggestion to get in touch with that service as soon as it is available. Primary care services may include (but not be exclusive) to a GP practice, a GP out of hours service,

The 10^th data item was trialled last winter and uses the following definition:

• Total Handle Time

The total time in seconds the initial call handler spent dealing with calls.

This is the sum of handling time on individual calls, that is, from the moment the call is answered by the initial call handler, any hold element and until the user hangs up, plus any post-call follow up or wrap time. The clock starts at the point where the initial agent answers the call and the clock stops when the caller hangs up or is transferred, and any post call follow up or wrap time for the initial agent is complete.

Note: This is NOT the Average Handle Time, this data element should be displayed as the TOTAL time in seconds. i.e. we will be dividing this figure by the calls answered in order to determine AHT.