Ofcom allocates non-emergency medical phone number

People will soon be able to call 111, a new medical free non-emergency number, when they need help but the situation is not life-threatening.

The Department of Heath (DH) wanted to introduce a new system that would provide the public with a quick and easy way to access advice and information on a non-emergency basis.

Trained call-handlers will respond to requests for health or service information and assess the medical needs of callers to identify which NHS services are best placed to meet those needs and ensure that patients get to the right place first time.

The number chosen by the DH was 111 so the communications regulator, Ofcom ran a consultation in July and August this year taking views from telecommunications providers and health professionals.

The most significant issue was whether there would be a charge to call 111. If there was, the cost of misdials and ghost calls would, to some extent at least, fall on consumers and communications providers.

The DH and Ofcom considered that the benefits of the memorability of 111 outweighed the potential additional costs in handling these calls. It was agreed the calls would be free to the caller.

The NHS would meet the communications providers' costs with carrying both genuine and non-genuine calls.

During 2010, the Department of Health intends to pilot the number in England in 2010 for 12 months in a number of Strategic Health Authority (SHA) areas. A spokesman for the department said no date had been set yet for the start of the pilot schemes as the infrastructure to handle the calls was not yet in place.

If these pilots are successful, health authorities in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales may consider whether to introduce the 111 service following the outcome of the pilots in England.