We’ve received a communication from St John asking urgent care clinics to call the 0800 health professionals’ line and NOT the 111 when requesting an ambulance.
In summary, St John is experiencing record high 111 call demand due to the Omicron surge, and at times are experiencing severe delays in 111 calls being answered. As such, St John have bolstered the staffing on our 0800 health professionals’ line, and are asking for your help in ensuring that whenever possible, staff working in urgent care use this number when requesting an ambulance response, instead of 111.
St John indicate that the reasons for this are:
- Due to the pressure that our 111 line is under, we will be able to answer calls from health professionals that come in on the 0800 health professionals’ line much faster and provide a better service to urgent care clinics when they require an ambulance response.
- Using the 0800 line enables calls from health professionals to be more appropriately triaged, ensuring the most appropriate priority of response.
- Health professionals using the 0800 line will help keep the 111 line free for members of the public and ensure we can answer calls from the public for emergencies such as cardiac arrest as quickly as possible.
Attachments:
Requesting an ambulance update