Supporting London’s urgent and emergency care response

We have supported NHS England London’s urgent and emergency care programme to:

• set up urgent and emergency care networks to oversee the planning and delivery of care London-wide
• designate urgent and emergency care facilities to ensure London quality standards are met seven days a week
• improve and expand the NHS 111 system to help patient get the right care, first time.

As part of this, we have developed the MiDoS© search tool to enable healthcare professionals to find service information in a variety of settings and on the move.

As part of this, we have developed the MiDoS© search tool to enable healthcare professionals to find service information in a variety of settings and on the move.

MiDoS© has been piloted by London Ambulance Service and A&E staff, and GPs in urgent care settings.

We have also worked on technology to mitigate staffing issues in urgent and emergency care and NHS 111. This coincides with the integration of AI into NHS 111, with a product called Visiba. Visiba’s platform allows remote consultations between patients and healthcare professionals, freeing up the need for a non-clinical health adviser at the history taking stage.

• MiDoS© enables ambulance and A&E staff to contact GP practices via bypass numbers, and community services, helping patients get the right care in the right place.

Workshop enables senior leaders to create real improvements in services and emergency care 

In spring 2023 following a winter of pressures including industrial action, North Central London Integrated Care System commissioned us to run a workshop where senior figures in the system would come together, including acute and mental health trusts, ambulance service and local authorities.   

The purpose of the event was to collectively:  

• discuss system pressures, including the impact of NHS industrial action  
• consider the issues and challenges facing the different parts of the system  
• learn together and reflect as part of system planning for winter 2023/34   
• discuss which interventions should become business as usual.   

We co-designed and co-produced the workshop with the integrated care board and delivered the event. This gave the participants space to examine what could be adopted from measures taken during the industrial action. We challenged them to investigate the role of community and virtual care as part of their overall strategy for meeting demand. 

• System leaders reflected and learned together and identified opportunities for improvement, including historical issues with discharge pathways.
• It was agreed to audit discharge pathways and share best practice as well as further work on urgent and emergency care (UEC).
• It was also agreed to do further work to understand capacity and demand in urgent and emergency care including looking at prevention, population health and public health measures to reduce demand, and to explore the impact of pressures on mental health services.