NHS England to share data on 111 calls with PCN clinical directors

PCN clinical directors are to receive data on the number of calls to NHS 111 in core hours so that practices only divert to the service ‘in exceptional circumstances’, according to a letter to primary care leaders published today.

The letter, from NHS England national director for primary care and community services, Dr Amanda Doyle, and national medical director for primary care, Dr Claire Fuller, was an update on the delivery of the plan for recovering access to primary care and aims for this coming year.

It said that if practices do divert to 111, they need to inform their local ICB primary care team.

It stated: ‘We will begin to share data on the number of calls to 111 in core hours with primary care networks (PCN) clinical directors, to support quality improvement, so practices only divert to 111 in exceptional circumstances.’

The letter also called on PCNs to review ‘key telephony metrics’ across their practices to manage demand and plan care navigation.

So far, 99% of practices have signed contracts to move to digital telephony – one of the aims of the modern general practice access model – according to the letter.  Over 90% of these have already implemented these systems, it added, with the remaining ones doing so by May 2024.

It said: ‘Our goals for 2024/25 are to encourage the full use of digital telephony capabilities, including callback functionality, and for PCNs to review the key telephony metrics across their practices (including number of calls, average wait, abandonment time, average call length) to support quality improvement in demand management and planning of care navigation.’

CAIP payments

The letter added that NHS England is aiming for over 90% of PCNs to meet the criteria to receive capacity and access improvement payments (CAIP) in 2024/25, which makes up 30% of the funding within the capacity and access payment scheme.

In order for PCNs to receive this money, they need to deliver against three areas: patient experience of contact, ease of access and demand management, and accuracy of recording in appointment books.

The other 70% of the funding is paid upfront through the national capacity and access support payment.

The letter said: ‘Over the next year, we will support practices to make full use of digital telephony capabilities, including callback functionality and ensuring that practices meet capacity and access improvement payment (CAIP) payment criteria. This will include implementing a single view of all requests whether online, phone or walk-in through the use of digital tools, each of which includes structured data to support the assessment and streaming to the appropriate response.’

Over 1,650 practices have also received training and transformation support through the national general practice improvement programme (GPIP), which was established in May 2023, according to the letter.