PATIENTS will be able to book an appointment to visit the emergency department at Basingstoke hospital, after a new pilot scheme launched in the area.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) adopted a new ‘NHS 11 First’ approach from the end of October, whereby patients who need urgent medical help which is not a life-threatening emergency, will be asked to contact 111 to book an arrival slot.

The trust operated a ‘soft launch’ last month, with walk in service also available, but with an ambition to move more patients over to pre-booked slots in the future.

Papers for the trust’s Board of Directors’ meeting in October state: “This has multiple benefits in terms of patients being redirected to more appropriate locations such as pharmacies, GPs, community services and for those who do need emergency department care, they will be booked in to a slot and not left to wait in a waiting room.”

Nicola Decker, clinical chair north Hampshire for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership of Clinical Commissioning Groups, said: “We are just starting to test out a new, improved way of helping people when they need help in a hurry.

“We hope that the enhanced “NHS 111 First” service will be better for patients, and safer as well. It is all about directing people straight to the right service for them, at the first time of asking.

“If a person needs help but it isn’t a life-threatening situation emergency, the adapted NHS 111 First service can now get them booked in to an appointment at the service which best suits their needs - it may be with a GP, or direct them to a pharmacy, or if needed a slot in a local Emergency Department (ED). That helps to cut down the time people spend in waiting areas, which is so hugely important at the moment.

"That is a real advance – it makes life much easier for people contacting NHS 111, and stops anyone feeling as if they are being bounced around the system.

“The new NHS 111 First service demonstrates how the NHS is working together and marks a real step forward. We hope that people will use it as the first port of call whenever they need help to decide who is best placed to give them the treatment or advice they need.”

NHS 111 is a free-to-call single non-emergency number medical helpline, operated in north and mid Hampshire by South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

The new pilot scheme is being run in the area served by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, operating out of Basingstoke, Winchester, and Andover, and is being tested ahead of a national launch expected in December.

Anyone turning up to ED in north and mid Hampshire who has not contacted NHS 111 First will still be treated – no one will be turned away.