Practice Plus Group - NHS 111 Devon

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

We looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

This is the first inspection for this service since its registration with CQC. This key question has been rated as good.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff protected their privacy and dignity. They treated them as individuals and supported their preferences. People had choice in their care and treatment. The service supported staff wellbeing.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Staff treated people with kindness, respect and compassion. Staff understood peoples’ personal, cultural, social and religious needs. They displayed an understanding and non-judgmental attitude to all people

There were arrangements and systems to support staff to respond to people with specific health care needs such as end-of-life care and those who had mental health needs.

Training was provided on respecting and involving people in their care and on assessing mental capacity.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Peoples’ personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristics needs were understood and met. People’s communication needs were met to enable them to be fully involved in their care.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

The provider organised and delivered services to meet people’s’ needs and preferences. It took account of patient needs and preferences. The NHS 111 Service has been set up to respond to calls received by the provider.

Services have been designed to respond to people’s needs for a short period and complete any care or treatment needed or refer people to other health and social care services, if needed.

The service had a system that alerted staff to any specific safety or clinical needs of a person using the service. For example, people who may experience a mental health crisis.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Staff had access to an on-screen button, which enabled them to seek immediate advice. This button was also available to staff working remotely. This allowed a clinician to join the call and provide advice and support. If a health advisor was in the contact centre, then they could use a green card to indicate that they needed support with a call.

There was a separate advice line which could be used by health advisors if a person’s condition was not life threatening.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Information received on staff surveys indicated that there was a mix of positive and negative views on how the workforce was supported. For example, requests for flexible working were delayed and equipment to enable staff to work flexibly had not been provided in a timely manner.

Some health advisors considered that although they received breaks after calls for complex cases, they did not consider that sufficient time was allocated to promote wellbeing, particularly after back-to-back complex calls. Staff said they were always given a 5-minute break after a complex call, ‘if it is particularly extreme’. Managers would listen to the call and check staffs’ wellbeing. Debrief sessions with clinicians were offered and feedback was provided on how the person who called was if the information was available.

Concerns were raised that clinical staff were being managed by non-clinical staff following a restructuring exercise. Some clinicians were concerned that the manager who supported them was not clinical; and that it was not always possible to discuss cases from a clinical perspective in one-to-one sessions. The provider had responded to these concerns and had set up a monthly clinical case discussion meeting, to enable peer to peer support.

However, non-clinical staff commented that they considered processes had been streamlined and there was increased manager cover. Culture had improved in the call centre as there were more staff in the daytime and health advisors were able to develop their skills, for example by training to become coaches.

Staff reported that sometimes there was only one clinician available in the base, with others working remotely and this had impacted on their ability to access advice. The provider was aware of these concerns and had started a project to improve clinical staffing levels.

Other themes identified from negative responses included not being able to work from home, as staff previously did.

There was a range of avenues for support for staff, this included a staff forum; wellbeing champions; and staff experience advocates who focussed on supporting new recruits until the end of their probation periods.

The service had an ongoing quality improvement project related to wellbeing. This included staff who worked flexible between home and the call centre attending the call centre 3 days a week, to work on planning, attend meetings and to promote effective communication.

There were also support groups for staff to attend if they wanted, such as those for menopause and men’s health.