Have your say about proposals for inspection of NHS 111 services

The CQC today (Friday 27 February) sets out proposals for how it will inspect and regulate NHS 111 services.

Our proposals form part of our new approach to make sure that services are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and are well-led.

CQC Chief Inspector of Primary Care Professor Steve Field, said: “We are setting out the changes we are proposing to make to the way we regulate NHS 111 services that will help us to make sure that they provide safe, high-quality care.

“We want to hear what professionals, clinicians and members of the public think of these proposals."

NHS 111 is a telephone-based service that aims to make it easier to access local NHS healthcare services in England. It is used when urgent medical help is required, but it’s not a 999 emergency.

Trained staff ask questions to assess symptoms, then give healthcare advice or direct callers to the local service that can best help.

Inspections of NHS 111 services require a distinct approach because of the nature of service which does not include face to face care provision. Our plans include:

• using key lines of enquiry (KLOEs), inspection teams supported by clinical and other experts and the use of information, including people’s experiences of care, to decide when, where and what to inspect.
• rating NHS 111 services using the ratings characteristics which are similar to those for GP practices and GP out-of-hours services.

The consultation runs until 24 April 2015. You can take part via our online form or by using #tellcqc

This follows on from our announcement about Joanne Bailey who was recently appointed as National Advisor for Urgent Care.