NHS 111 option 2 – mental health support
From 12 noon on Monday, 27 March, Kent and Medway will be one of the first regions to launch NHS 111 option 2 for mental health.
The aim is to ensure that people experiencing mental distress or self-defined crisis can access the right service at the right time, and to reduce the pressure on the emergency services.
The plan is to use the period from March 2023 to summer 2023 to embed the change across the system and assess call handling capacity, to make sure calls can be answered as efficiently as possible, prior to the service being launched and promoted nationally.
How will the service work?
When a caller based in Kent and Medway dials NHS 111 they will, for the first time, be given the option to press 2 to access dedicated mental health support. This option is only available via the telephone line. Once a caller selects option 2, they will be routed to either KMPT’s Urgent Mental Health helpline, if the call relates to someone aged 18 or over, or NELFT’s single point of access, if the call relates to someone under the age of 18 and/or if they have an eating disorder. Here they will speak to a trained mental health professional to be triaged and directed for onward assessment, treatment or advice.
