Chance to help shape the future of urgent and emergency care

Healthcare professionals from across the North East are being invited to be part of a new integrated care service for the region.

The Integrated Urgent Care Clinical Assessment Service (IUCCAS) is run by North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) as part of the new NHS111 service, which is due to launch on 1 October.

NHS111 sits at the heart of the urgent and emergency care system in the North East, providing a free service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to more than 800,000 patients who need medical help fast but do not need to call 999 every year.

The current service, which is already delivered by NEAS, has access to nurses, who are able to manage a broad range of general healthcare needs. Where input is required from other clinicians, such as GPs, dental specialists, mental health specialists or pharmacists, an onward referral is made to a separate service. 

From October, many of these specialist clinical roles will be incorporated into the new IUCCAS as part of the new service’s aim to deal with most patients’ problems on their first call. While some of these roles will sit within NEAS, others will be sourced through collaborative working with other NHS provider organisations across the region.

As NEAS looks to build up the IUCCAS in preparation for the launch of the new service, it is now recruiting advanced clinical practitioners at Band 7 (Agenda for Change) who will provide care for patients who access unscheduled care via the NHS 111 or 999 services.  

Senior clinicians with extensive experience in emergency or urgent care, the new post holders will provide a key role in the development of urgent and emergency care services.  They will utilise their advanced clinical history taking and examination skills by working predominantly to provide remote telephone triage and consultation to patients, as well as supporting their paramedic colleagues with clinical decision making when required.

Sue Tucker, strategic head of the Emergency Operations Centre at NEAS, said: “This is an exciting time for NEAS as we deliver a new service which will support the whole urgent and emergency care system to provide the best possible care for our patients.

“Many aspects of the service haven’t changed – patients will continue to access the service by calling the free-to-call 111 number, and will still be assessed by a call handler using the same NHS Pathways clinical triage tool.

“What the new service now includes is stronger clinical support, with a range of clinicians operating as a fully-integrated multi-disciplinary team, supporting each other and our call operators with their own particular knowledge, skills and experience, helping to ensure that the right decision is made for each patient and that people calling 111 have a seamless experience.”

Clinicians working at NEAS come from a range of backgrounds, including everything from paramedics on the road to senior staff nurses.  They report that the ability to make a significant contribution to keeping people out of hospital is a real draw and that helping to care for patients in their own community and thereby reducing the pressure on emergency departments and ambulance dispatches drives their motivation at work.

For more information and to apply, visit www.jobs.nhs.uk and search for job reference: 340-IUCADVAP-05-18