The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has announced preliminary plans to evaluate a new telephone service for immediate, but not critical, medical problems, aiming to alleviate the strain on the national emergence hotline. This investigation comes at the request of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The strategic and budgetary implications of introducing an alternative nationwide medical hotline will be thoroughly analysed. Findings derived from this investigation will offer guidance to the Minister for Health and the HSE.
In Ireland currently, patients who require immediate, non-critical attention can access services such as their local GP during office hours, after-hours GP services, emergency wards or minor injury departments, and the 112/999 hotline for ambulance response. However, if these services are inaccessible, those patients who need immediate, non-critical care often resort to emergency services at the hospital or through the 112 or 999 hotline, which can overburden these services, according to Hiqa.
A number of patients who require immediate attention may defer their visit to the emergency department due to lengthy anticipated waits or assumptions that their case is not severe enough to require emergency care. An alternative hotline aims to help manage patients’ care more efficiently and promptly, directing them to the most suitable healthcare environment.
Healthcare consultation and triage services over the telephone have already been trialled in other countries, such as the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and Australia. The NHS 111 line in England is one such example.
Dr Conor Teljeur, Hiqa’s chief scientist, expressed the difficulty patients may face in determining the level of urgency of their medical eye needs. He argued that a new alternative hotline could help manage patients more efficiently; trained operatives would advise and triage the caller and then signpost them to the most suitable healthcare provider. The assessment will explore the impact of introducing such a hotline on both service users and the healthcare system.