The Health and Safety Executive will investigate the potential of a new telephone service for acute, non-urgent medical needs to reduce the burden on the national emergency number.
On Thursday, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) announced that it would begin the health technology assessment of an alternative telephone number to the 112/999 telephone service.
The evaluation is undertaken at the request of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and will assess the budgetary and organisational implications of an alternative national telephone line. The results will be presented as recommendations for decision-making by the Secretary of State for Health and the HSE.
Currently, people with acute, non-urgent medical problems in Ireland can access medical care through a range of services. These services include visiting their GP during office hours or the GP’s on-call service, going to a local casualty or emergency department, or calling 112/999 to reach an emergency medical service.
When primary care and local emergency departments are not easily accessible, people with acute, non-urgent treatment needs who cannot or do not want to wait should either go to a hospital emergency department or call an ambulance on 112 or 999.
This has contributed to an increased burden on emergency services and departments, Hiqa said.
There may also be people who need treatment in the emergency department but postpone the visit because they do not consider this type of treatment necessary or because they expect long waiting times. A national telephone service is designed to support the timely provision of treatment in the most appropriate setting.
Telephone advice and/or triage health services, with varying degrees of health service integration, have been introduced in several countries, including the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Canada. In England, the telephone health advice line is known as NHS 111.
Dr Conor Teljeur, Hiqa’s chief scientist, said that when a person needs care, “it can be difficult to distinguish between acute, non-urgent care needs due to injury or illness and urgent conditions”.
“There may be overlap in the symptoms experienced and the perceived urgency for each person. In many cases, there may be a number of services that can provide appropriate care rather than a hospital emergency department or ambulance,” he said.
“An alternative telephone service would allow people to speak to a trained member of staff who would prioritise the caller and provide them with self-help advice or direct them to the appropriate health services. Our evaluation will look at the impact of introducing such an alternative telephone line on service users and the health system.”