Virtual triage

Grader A: hit

NHS England told all GP practices to adopt remote 'total triage' via online and phone consultation in March 2020; by July 2020, 79% of UK practices were live with online consultations (5% pre-pandemic). NHS 111 online triage also national. Well above 5%.

Test: D37 health: share of relevant patients, providers or procedures using it by 2022 (hit >=5%; partial <5% real use by 2022 or 5% in 2023-2025; miss no real use by 2025); relevant: primary care practices / urgent care contacts

• Advice on how to establish a remote total triage model in general practice using online consultations (2020-03): NHS England guidance for all practices to run total triage
• RCGP: The future role of remote consultations and patient triage (2021): 79% of practices live with online consultations by July 2020

Grader B: hit

England's NHS 111 triages about 16-20 million calls a year with the NHS Pathways clinical decision-support software (a registered medical device), a large share of urgent-care contacts for a population of ~56 million; COVID-era online and video triage expanded this. Above 5% by 2022 (and already before).

Test: D37 health: >=5% of urgent-care contacts in a health system are triaged remotely by software by 2022 = hit.

• NHS Pathways is a Class 1 medical device (NHS England Digital) (2024): NHS Pathways is the software used to triage NHS 111 and 999 calls.
• An analysis of NHS 111 demand for primary care services (2023-03-20): NHS 111 triages over 16.6 million calls per year with NHS Pathways.