NHS 24 improves call center performance to meet increased demand

What did NHS 24 achieve using simulation?

Simul8 Support

Given Simul8's expertise in both Health and Contact Center modeling, NHS 24 contracted Simul8 to play a key role in evaluating the root cause of the existing performance issues.

In particular, Simul8 assisted the service in identifying and testing the benefit of potential business improvement proposals, prior to their implementation in practice.

Establishing the existing barriers to satisfactory performance

When an urgent call is received by NHS 24 it is answered by an initial call handler, who either passes the call to the 999 emergency ambulance service, or to an internal nurse adviser where one is available.

If no nurse adviser is immediately available, arrangements are made for one to call back within a certain period, based on an initial assessment of the importance of the call.

The process of 'Call Back' had at peak times resulted in some patients waiting more than an hour to be called back.

Using advanced Contact Center simulation, Simul8 allowed NHS 24 to quantify the most appropriate resource and skills mix to this complex hand-off process, identifying the level of demand that could be handled by all stages in the process to reduce the reliance on this 'Call Back' process.

Testing the benefits of improvement proposals

Further strategic options were also being considered to improve the existing performance, such as establishing additional 'hub' contact centers to ease the burden on the existing facilities at key times.

Simul8 had significant influence on the business case for these 'hubs', demonstrating the future benefit of establishing the facilities, the resources required to provide the appropriate service level improvements, and what the most appropriate skills mix and shift patterns for these additional resources should be.

Simul8 provided an accurate means for NHS 24 to test the benefit of their proposals in advance of implementation, avoiding potential costly errors in design, and providing quantifiable benefit for the proposed investment.

Simul8 as an operational support tool

The solutions provide the NHS 24 management team with not only the ability, but also the confidence, to identify and manage potential periods of future under performance.

The advantage to NHS 24 of using the Simul8 solution is that it provides information in advance, as a risk with a potential solution, rather than a result with an actual consequence.