NHS111 online evaluation

Plain English summary of protocol

Background and study aims
The NHS 111 telephone service is being used increasingly by people who need help deciding which urgent care services to use when they need help quickly. Recently, an alternative online NHS 111 service has been introduced. This allows people to use either a website or an “app” to answer a series of questions about their health problem rather than the telephone. The online service can provide advice about what the patient needs to do next (for example self-care, see a pharmacist, make a GP appointment, go to an emergency department) or if needed link the person using the online service to a clinical advisor within the NHS111 telephone service for further assessment. It is hoped that this will help improve access to services, and help to reduce the impact of growing demand for the NHS 111 telephone services. This online service is now being offered across England. As it is relatively new it is not clear at the moment how effective this service is. The University of Sheffield will look at how well the new service is working in about eight sites and assess what impact the new online service has on the existing NHS 111 telephone service by measuring any changes in the number of calls and whether the new online service provides similar advice to the NHS 111 telephone service. They will also ask people who use both the NHS111 online and telephone services if they followed the advice they were given, if they found the service easy to use and how the new online service might affect how they use health services in the future. The researchers will also assess how the new online service affects the workload and the people who work at the NHS 111 telephone service and estimate the costs of the service.

Who can participate?
People who either call the NHS111 telephone service or use the NHS111 online service in five study areas

What does the study involve?
The number of calls to the 111 telephone service and contacts with the online service over a four-year period in the study areas are measured using routine national data to see if there has been a shift from the telephone service to the online service. The researchers also estimate what the likely future numbers of users for each service will be. In selected sites they look in more detail at what happens to people who use both the online and telephone services to see if there are differences. They also ask users about their experience of using the services and what they did after their contact using a survey and more detailed interviews with people who have used the service. A particular interest is the experiences of the people that use the online service and their views on whether it worked well or was difficult to navigate. Both the NHS111 telephone and online services already use a patient experience survey so this is used to ask some additional questions. The researchers also conduct more detailed interviews with users of the new NHS111 online service to ask in more detail about their experience.They also talk to staff to see if the introduction of the online 111 service has had any impact on their work and use the results of the statistical analysis and survey to assess whether the new service has had any effect on the costs of delivering the overall NHS111 service.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Patient views and experiences of the new service will help identify where it works well and whether any changes are needed to improve the advice provided to people who use it and make it more accessible and easy to use. Participating in the surveys or interviews is voluntary. It is possible that some people who agree to be interviewed may find recalling their health problem event upsetting. If this happens they will be able to withdraw at any time.

Where is the study run from?
The study is led by the Centre for Urgent and Emergency Care Research at the University of Sheffield. The five areas involved in the patient surveys and interviews are Yorkshire and Humber; Hampshire; South West London; Derbyshire and Bedfordshire & Luton.

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
March 2019 to June 2020

Who is funding the study?
National Institute of Health Research (UK)

Who is the main contact?
Janette Turner
j.turner@sheffield.ac.uk

Study website

Contact information

Ms Janette Turner
Scientific

University of Sheffield
Regent Court
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA
United Kingdom

ORCID ID	0000-0003-3884-7875
Phone	+44 (0)114 2220761
Email	j.turner@sheffield.ac.uk

Study information

Eligibility

Locations

Countries of recruitment

• England
• United Kingdom

Study participating centres

Sponsor information

University of Sheffield
University/education

Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
England
United Kingdom

Phone	+44 (0)114 2221424
Email	K.Pursall@sheffield.ac.uk
Website	https://www.sheffield.ac.uk
"ROR"	https://ror.org/05krs5044

Funders

Funder type

Government

Results and Publications

Study outputs

Editorial Notes

19/10/2022: Protocol uploaded (not peer reviewed).
18/10/2022: Publication reference added.
28/10/2019: Trial's existence confirmed by funder and ethics committee.