NHS Direct ‘Smashes All Performance Targets’

NHS Direct has recorded its best ever performance, exceeding all the stringent targets set by the Department of Health. The targets cover access, response times, and clinical sorting (appropriate advice and signposting). The performance figures for June also incorporate those set for GP out of hours services.

‘These figures show that we are providing an exceptional level of service to callers, enabling them to receive rapid and appropriate health advice at the end of a telephone, 24 hours a day. The public has consistently demonstrated its appreciation of our service, but we are looking to continually improve the way in which we meet the needs of all our users’, said Dr Mike Sadler, Chief Operating Officer.

NHS Direct answered 467, 000 calls last month and 98% were answered within 60 seconds – breaking the 95% target set by DH. Of those calls, NHS Direct completed 48% of them without onward referral to another healthcare professional (the target is 38%) and 29% were emergency and urgent referrals, down from the target of 32%.

98% of the urgent calls (P1) were triaged within 20 minutes – the target is 95%; 100% of those requiring triage within 60 minutes (P2) and 240 minutes (P3) were also dealt with within the required timescales set by the Department of Health – the targets for both P2 and P3 is 95%.

This week marks the arrival of NHS Direct’s new Chief Executive, Matt Tee. He has called upon commissioners and other providers to also publish their performance levels against the national standards, to help the public to assess the quality of services that they receive.  

“I am delighted that our performance is now at record levels, and we will look to build on that” he said. “I believe that our figures, which are publicly available, exceed those achieved by other providers, but unfortunately it is difficult to obtain comparative figures from other services.”

This excellent performance is set against a long period of internal change during 2006/07. Following the transformation programme, aimed at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the service, NHS Direct became an NHS Trust in April 2007. It is now looking to achieve Foundation Trust status in 2008.