NHS 111 is a brand new non-emergency number for local health services, which has launched in Blackburn with Darwen as part of a Lancashire-wide pilot scheme.
The free service, which is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day, can be accessed by calling the easy to remember, three-digit number -111- and offers help and advice for minor injuries and illness when it’s urgent but not an emergency.
It is staffed by trained advisors, supported by specialists such as nurses and paramedics, who will ask questions about symptoms and then give advice or refer patients on. If they decide it isan emergency, they will send an ambulance immediately.
Patients should call the number when they don’t know where to go for medical help or don’t have a GP to call, it is outside of GP surgery hours or they may think they need to go to the hospital emergency department.
Patients should be aware that they can continue to call their GP practice as normal and 999 for life-threatening emergencies.
The 111 number is available to anyone living in, or visiting Lancashire (excluding West Lancashire, which covers Ormskirk, Skelmersdale, Upholland, Burscough and Tarleton). It is already available in some other parts of the country. The Government wants the service to be available everywhere in the country by April 2013.
