Spotlight on Research

Everybody has an opinion on NHS 111, especially those working in ambulance services. Following piloting, the system was formally launched in 2014 to alleviate the burden on emergency departments and ensure patients with urgent care needs accessed the right care. In 2020, 111 First was introduced to triage patients before entry to the emergency department (ED) and offer direct booking for patients needing ED or urgent care into same-day arrival timed slots. 111 First continues to be used but concerns have been raised.

This study used semi-structured telephone interviews to capture the views of staff from EDs and urgent care centres across England. An interview topic guide was developed and piloted to explore the impact of NHS 111 on workloads and arrangements of urgent and emergency care services. Data were collected through single-episode, one-to-one interviews, conducted online or by telephone between October 2020 and July 2021. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit from areas with high need and demand so were likely to be using NHS 111 services, and recruitment continued until the research team agreed that data saturation had been reached.