BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT
higher cost services are less likely to become overwhelmed and are available for the people and situations that need them.
NHS Direct is a leader in the development of remote healthcare and our multi-chan- nel approach reflects how many people now use the internet to run their daily lives. Our award-winning health and symptom checkers can be found on the internet or by downloading a free app. Where some- one needs advice from a nurse, they simply click for a call-back. This is a high volume service: nearly 10 million people a year use NHS Direct online and over 4.5 million call us on 0845 4647.
NHS 111 was designed for the phone. Drawing on NHS Direct’s experience, NHS 111 will now also be available online and via an app, so that people can check their symptoms obtain health information and look up a directory of local services from home or on the move. The online NHS 111 is being adapted from NHS Direct’s web- based symptom checkers and will be tested through a pilot in Lincolnshire.
The main focus of NHS 111 is one-stop- shop direction of callers to the most appro- priate health service. NHS 111 operates to a national specification and is being commis- sioned locally. The national service specifi- cation includes the requirement for clinical assessment to be completed in the first call, without the need for re-triaging.
Where a patient’s condition is assessed as life-threatening, NHS 111 call handlers will be able to dispatch an ambulance, without the caller being reassessed by the ambu-
“In 2010/11 NHS Direct saved 1.1 million inappropriate visits to A&E or 999 calls, 1.6 million unnecessary GP consultations and 0.5m other face-to-face appointments.”
lance service. NHS Direct was the first non- ambulance trust in the country to do this.
Over 50% of callers to the 0845 4647 num- ber are given advice that allows them to care for themselves at home, only seeking further advice if their symptoms persist.
This means we are playing our part in help- ing reduce the nearly 60 million visits to a general practice that don’t necessarily need a GP. In 2010/11 NHS Direct saved 1.1 mil- lion inappropriate visits to A&E or 999 calls, 1.6 million unnecessary GP consulta-
tions and 0.5m other face-to-face appoint- ments.
NHS 111 will be rolled out across England by April 2013 and learning the lessons from the evaluations of the NHS 111 pilot projects is going to be critical.
In our experience NHS 111 works best when it is fully integrated into the existing urgent care system since such a significant change to the entry point for urgent care could potentially have a major impact on the local NHS.
When the 4.5m calls to 0845 4647, for ex- ample, are ‘switched over’ to NHS 111 it will be important to be clear what impact there might be on other services.
Localities are choosing to take different ap- proaches in the way they are implementing NHS 111 in their areas. Some are establish- ing or extending pilots, to allow for learn- ing and flexibility as experience of this in- novative service is accumulated.
Others are moving straight to OJEU-style procurements. In our experience, good partnership working involving current lo- cal providers, strong engagement from clinical commission- ers, and flexibility to learn from emerging evidence, will all be crucial.
Nick Chapman
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Matthew Poyiadgi, Managing Director, Pearson VUE Europe, discusses the security, consistency and flexibility benefits of computer-based testing.
K
nowledge assessments with- in the medical sector are an
established means of ensuring the highest professional stand- ards are maintained. The emer- gence of computer-based testing (CBT) is helping to maintain and improve these standards by pro- viding an efficient and scalable as- sessment framework to a growing international medical community.
From admissions to specialty tests, assessment methods vary across the globe. Many prove cum- bersome and require resources best used in other aspects of medi-
cal practice. Traditional paper and pencil exams are time-intensive, requiring extensive resources for set-up and delivery. They can also be lost in transit, stolen or viewed prior to scheduled exam slots. CBT eliminates these frustrations and risks. CBT exams take place in highly secure and invigilated envi- ronments, with instant result no- tification enabling candidates to plan the next stage of their career quicker than ever before. Given its flexibility and security assur- ances, it is no surprise that CBT is becoming the industry stand- ard, rather than the cutting edge.
Those adopting CBT solutions are not just enjoying the benefits of higher security, exam consistency and a much faster turnaround time of training to accreditation.
The harnessing of many value- added benefits, which better test candidates’ ability, is also being put to use. Management informa- tion generated by companies such as Pearson VUE, which serves over 100 leading medical organi- sations around the world, is easy to use and can be manipulated to show where improvements in learning are required. This allows CBT businesses and test owners to further enhance assessment and learning experiences while pro- ducing reliable results.
Across the continent, more and more medical organisations are transitioning to CBT to improve their geographical reach and the overall quality of their programmes. These are often tests upon which entire careers can hinge, so flexible delivery and robust security meas- ures are paramount.
In addition to ensuring that those applying for medical programmes are suitable and possess the knowledge required, CBT is also enabling professionals to become recertified in a more prompt and succinct manner.
FOR MORE INFORMATION E:
VUEmarketing@pearson.com W:
www.pearsonvue.co.uk
national health executive Jan/Feb 12 | 23
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