What should NHS 111 staff do if there is a system outage or technical problem?

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Multiple Choice

What should NHS 111 staff do if there is a system outage or technical problem?

When systems fail, the priority is to maintain patient safety and continuity of care. Staff should follow the contingency plans, keep callers informed about what is happening and any expected delays, and document the outage along with any escalation steps as required by policy. This approach ensures the service remains as reliable as possible under the circumstances, supports timely escalation to IT or on-call management, and creates a clear record for investigation and resolution. Continuing as normal ignores the outage and risks mis-triage and data gaps. Shutting down operations entirely is overkill and unnecessary in most outages and can disrupt urgent care. Merely recording the outage in the IT log without informing callers or updating patient records misses the essential steps that protect patients and ensure proper escalation and accountability.

When systems fail, the priority is to maintain patient safety and continuity of care. Staff should follow the contingency plans, keep callers informed about what is happening and any expected delays, and document the outage along with any escalation steps as required by policy. This approach ensures the service remains as reliable as possible under the circumstances, supports timely escalation to IT or on-call management, and creates a clear record for investigation and resolution.

Continuing as normal ignores the outage and risks mis-triage and data gaps. Shutting down operations entirely is overkill and unnecessary in most outages and can disrupt urgent care. Merely recording the outage in the IT log without informing callers or updating patient records misses the essential steps that protect patients and ensure proper escalation and accountability.

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