There are 100s of things the NHS and social care organisations in south west London are doing to help people stay well this winter – we’re sharing 10 points from the winter plan.
NHS 111 is the front door to healthcare for many people seeking medical help, with more than 36,000 south west London callers to the service in December 2024.
Callers were supported with out-of-hours GP appointments, home visits from a district nurse or urgent community responder or signposted to the Pharmacy First scheme, all keeping people out of busy hospitals unless they need to be there.
NHS 111 online is also there for people who need medical help with advice about what to do next.
More calls to the service
This winter the NHS 111 has been extremely busy, with 2,000 more calls answered in December 2024 compared to the same month in 2023.
Despite the high volume of calls, there have been significant improvements in many areas including the number of people assessed by a clinician within 20 minutes (up by more than 5%) and within an hour (up by 12%). Only 1.3% of calls were abandoned by the patient – down by almost 7%.
Winter pressure on the service is also very evident with 5,000 more calls in December compared to the average for the rest of the year.
How does NHS 111 work?
Contact NHS 111, and you’ll be routed to the right service for you, out of a range of options.
Your first contact will be with a health advisor, who will enter your symptoms into a computer to determine the timeframe in which you need to be seen. The advisor has access to a comprehensive directory of local services that gives all the available options. They also work closely with clinical advisors, who are doctors, nurses or paramedics.
Nurse, Fiona Quayle is a clinical advisor for Practice Plus Group, which delivers the NHS 111 service for south west London. She said: “The algorithm we use is very safe and as clinicians we add our own professional input. Once a call has left the health advisor, the patient’s care is then under an experienced clinician.
“If it’s safe to do so, we’ll give home management advice. If it’s something that can safely wait, we may book them an appointment with a GP. If it’s more urgent, there are out of hours GPs and the two-hour urgent response. You’ve got so many options to prevent people going to hospital if they don’t need to be there.”
GP Dr Rehan Chaudary is south west London’s medical lead for Practice Plus Group. As he explained, the system is designed to get people the right care at the right time.
“This system works extremely well. Each organisation polices their entry in the directory of services to ensure the right patients are going there.
“Of the thousands of callers who come through to NHS 111 in south west London every day, most will have their issue dealt with by one of these many options, with only a minority needing to go to the emergency department.”
Helping people get the most from NHS 111
Though NHS 111 has been around for a decade now, not everyone knows when to access it or feels comfortable doing so. Sharing information in communities and getting feedback is part of the job of Dalvinder Jammu, patient engagement lead at Practice Plus Group.
He said: “Most of the feedback we get is really positive but a lot of people don’t use 111 who could or should use it. So we’re designing patient education workshops to give people a better understanding of all the things 111 can do.
“For some people it’s normal to go to the emergency department if you’re unwell, so we’re working with community leaders, to help people understand what NHS 111 does. We’re finding they are much more receptive to using it when that information comes from a source they trust.”
Getting people the care they need
For people who call NHS 111, the options include:
GP hubs
GP hubs operate in each south west London borough offering year-round local access to appointments during evenings, weekends and bank holidays, with extra appointments during busy times such as over the winter period.
Richmond GP Dr Justin Woolley said: “The hubs are ideal for less complex issues and we can increase capacity when there are surges in demand.”
“NHS 111 can book directly into the hubs and people get to see an experienced doctor who is often the right person to treat those conditions.”
Urgent community response teams
South west London’s urgent community response service operates seven days a week. More than 1,300 visits take place each month with 90% of calls receiving a response within two hours.
Caralyn Miller is an advanced nurse practitioner working in Croydon’s team. She said: “It’s about trying to keep patients at home as much as possible. We do a full clinical assessment in their own homes including blood tests.
“Sometimes our patients do have to go to the emergency department for further investigations, especially if they’re very poorly, but most the time we try to keep them out of hospital and treat them at home.”
Pharmacy First
Local pharmacies offer health advice without the need for an appointment. Under the Pharmacy First scheme they can now treat seven common conditions.
Merton pharmacist, Abimbola Alaba, explained: “We help patients manage common conditions like sore throats, sinusitis and urinary tract infections. These can be managed easily by a pharmacist in our private consultation room. Pharmacy First made a huge difference in accessing healthcare for common ailments.”