Accessing NHS 111 mental health option in Milton Keynes

The NHS 111 mental health option is now available to call nationally. It has been set up as an alternative route into our local crisis pathways.

The service is for patients who may be feeling unsafe or distressed about their mental health and is available to offer crisis intervention over the phone as well as onward referral onto other mental health crisis resources.

The phone will be answered by a trained mental health professional who will be able to listen to patients concerns and help them get the support they need.

If patients are already known to CNWL services, they should contact their service during operating hours in the first instance. However, they can still call us on our crisis line in the way they do now on 0800 0234 650. Or, if they haven’t contacted CNWL before they may prefer to contact 111.

In emergency situations where there is an immediate risk to life, patients should continue to contact 999 or go to A&E.

Both 111 and calls to our 0800 number receive the same prioritisation and service offer from our trained mental health professional call handlers.

The route into the service is not set up to deliver:

• Prescription requests – these will be diverted back to primary care
• Routine referrals into non crisis services GP referral and self-referral pathways into routine services remain unchanged
• An alternative to seeing a GP when patients are not in a mental health crisis