Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the NHS 111 service.

The latest available data as of March 2022 shows that 1.40 million calls were answered by NHS 111, an average of 45,200 per day. Of these calls, 44.5% were answered in 60 seconds or less and the average time taken to answer calls was 396 seconds. Clinical advisors contributed to 51.5% of calls triaged.

The National Health Service continues to increase the capacity of NHS 111 through arranging clinical advice directly from healthcare professionals, making urgent appointments at a range of health services or offering a timed slot at a local accident and emergency department, where appropriate. We are also providing an additional £50 million in 2022/23 to support increased call-taking capacity.