London,
21
July
2015
|
11:09
Europe/London

Have your say on NHS 111 and GP out-of-hours services

Have you used NHS 111 or out-of-hours services in Camden? How was your experience? The NHS in Camden wants to know.

Camden Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is working with the other CCGs in north central London to improve the way that the NHS 111 and out-of-hours services work for local people and they want your feedback.

How do the NHS 111 and GP out-of-hours services work now?

We want residents to be treated in the right place, at the right time and by the right professional – no matter what the circumstances.

When people need medical advice or support for a condition that is urgent but not life threatening, the free NHS 111 number is there to help. Trained call advisers will give you self-treatment advice, or refer you to the most appropriate clinical support, 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year.

What improvements are being proposed?

The CCG are proposing to develop a new contract which will join up the NHS 111 and out-of-hours services across the whole of north central London – so that patients experience fewer transfers between different parts of the NHS and better information sharing.

The CCG want to ensure that the patient ‘journey’ is as easy to navigate as possible. The proposals would not change how and where patients access NHS 111 and out-of-hours services, but commissioning services in a joined-up way would enable improvements to be made, increase the amount of clinical support available, and bring in new systems and technology.

The new contract would likely be delivered by a group of providers working together, with a ‘lead provider’ responsible for making sure that they deliver the performance that patients need.

Dr Denise Bavin, Camden CCG clinical lead for the project, says:

“We are committed to improving patients’ experience of using and accessing urgent care services, making sure they receive the best care from the best person, in the right place at the right time. We are proposing to join together our NHS 111 and out-of-hours services so that the system works better for patients in future.

“NHS 111 is an important tool to help link people to the right service at the right time. Joining it up with the out-of-hours service should make the whole system work more effectively and ensure our patients experience a better service.

“Our residents’ views on these proposals are very important to us, so we strongly encourage them to participate in our survey or feedback in writing.”

How can I have my say?

Download a document giving more information about the proposals here.

Take a look at the proposals and let us know what you think through our online survey or by emailing your thoughts to [email protected].