**THIS IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE**
 
Dear Customer,
 
Thank you for your email. We are currently receiving a higher than usual
volume of emails so it may take us a little longer to respond directly to
your email. In the meantime, you may find the following information
helpful.
 
Please note: our normal working hours are 08:00 to 18:00 from Monday to
Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). Emails received at the weekend will not
be reviewed until the next working day.
How can the Customer Contact Centre help me?
NHS England commissions or buys primary care services; for example, GPs,
dentists, opticians, and pharmacy services. We are also responsible for
prison healthcare, military health services, and some specialised
services. We can provide advice about accessing, giving feedback or making
a complaint about these services.
You may be able to find the answer you are looking for in our Frequently
Asked Questions<https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/ho...>
and our website explains how to share feedback or make a
complaint.[1]https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/co...
What if I have an enquiry or complaint about hospital care, NHS 111 or
out-of-hours GP services?
If your enquiry or complaint is about secondary care, this includes
hospitals, NHS 111, mental health services, out-of-hours services and
community services such as district nursing, you will need to contact the
organisation that provided the service. All hospitals have a Patient
Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
[2]https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questio...
. Alternatively, you can contact your local Clinical Commissioning Group
(CCG). You can find their contact details on the NHS
website[3]https://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Clinic...
Does the NHS England Customer Contact Centre provide medical advice?
No. Our advisors are not clinically trained and are unable to provide
medical advice. If you require emergency medical attention, dial 999 or
attend your local Accident and Emergency department if you are able to do
so.
If you require non-urgent medical advice please contact your GP, local
walk-in or urgent healthcare centre, or call NHS 111. Calls are free from
landlines and mobile phones.

How do I report a change of name or address?
You should report a change of name or address to your GP practice so they
can update their records. If your new address is outside the practice’s
catchment area you may be asked to register with a new GP practice.
You should also advise your dentist or optician of a change of name or
address as they keep their own records.

Where can I find further information about NHS England?
You can find information about NHS England and our work on our
website[4]https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/
How do you use my information?
NHS England’s privacy notice explains how we use, share and store your
personal information. You can find this on our
website.[5]https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/pr...
NHS England Customer Contact Centre

show quoted sections

**THIS IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE** 

Thank you for your email. 

Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we are receiving an
extremely high volume of enquiries. 

For information about coronavirus (COVID-19), including information about
the COVID-19 vaccine, go to the [1]NHS website. You can also find guidance
and support on the [2]GOV.UK website 

For routine enquiries, it may take us some time to get back to you. We
thank you for your patience and understanding. 

In the meantime, you may find the following information helpful. 

How can the Customer Contact Centre help me? 

We’re here to support patients and their representatives with enquiries,
concerns or complaints about primary care. Primary care includes local
healthcare services such as GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacies. 

We can also help with enquiries, concerns, or complaints about healthcare
in prison, military healthcare and some specialised services that support
people with a range of rare and complex conditions. 

You may be able to find the answer you are looking for in our Frequently
Asked Questions: 

[3]https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/ho...

You can find out how to feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service
here: 

[4]https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/co...

Does the NHS England Customer Contact Centre provide medical advice? 

No. Our advisors are not clinically trained and are unable to provide
medical advice.  

For help from a GP, visit your GP surgery’s website, use an [5]online
service to contact your GP, or call the surgery.  

For urgent medical help, use the [6]NHS 111 online service, or call 111 if
you are unable to get help online. For life-threatening emergencies, call
999 for an ambulance. 

There is more information about getting medical help on the [7]NHS
website. 

What if I have an enquiry or complaint about hospital care, NHS 111 or
out-of-hours GP services? 

If your enquiry or complaint is about secondary care, this includes
hospitals, NHS 111, mental health services, out-of-hours services and
community services such as district nursing, you will need to contact the
organisation that provided the service. 

All hospitals have a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS): 

[8]https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questio...

Alternatively, you can contact your local Clinical Commissioning Group
(CCG). You can find their contact details on the NHS website: 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information Request (Our Ref: FOI - 2106-1476156)

Dear Constantinos Regas,  

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 8 June 2021.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding.

Your exact request was: 
 
“Dear NHS England,

I had previously sent this to NHSX via their feedback email but I am not
sure if it has been picked up, so I am redirecting this to you. (Please
look out for a duplicate, in case the original has reached you.)

I am undertaking a study on technology adoption within the NHS.

On 23 February 2019, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
announced that NHS trusts should have infrastructure in place to replace
pagers (bleeps) by 30 September 2021, with complete phase out of pagers
(bleeps) by 31 December 2021.

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/news/healt...

NHSX has issued a Clinical Communications Framework:

[2]https://www.nhsx.nhs.uk/key-tools-and-in...

Under the FOI Act, please provide the following information, on
pagers/bleeps:

1. Which NHS organisations are within the scope of the Secretary of
State's announcement above, on phasing out pagers/bleeps?

2. What guidance has NHSX/NHSI/NHSE provided to NHS organisations in
relation to replacing pagers/bleeps? (Please provide a copy of any
documents.)

3. What monitoring has been done to ensure that NHS organisations are
phasing out pagers/bleeps within the proposed timeframe and what is the
current situation? (Please provide any progress reports.)

4. What were the detailed selection criteria for accepting suppliers onto
the procurement framework?

5. How were users involved in the supplier selection process for the
procurement framework?

6. What monitoring has been done of the procurement framework? How many
contracts have been let? How many contracts have been awarded to each
supplier within the framework, which are the awarding bodies and what is
the total value of each of these contracts?”

NHS England holds some of this information.

1. Which NHS organisations are within the scope of the Secretary of
State's announcement above, on phasing out pagers/bleeps?

From the original statement made in Feb 2019, 'all NHS trusts will be
required to phase out pagers'.

2. What guidance has NHSX/NHSI/NHSE provided to NHS organisations in
relation to replacing pagers/bleeps? (Please provide a copy of any
documents.)

NHSX established the Clinical Communication Tools procurement framework in
August 2020. Once NHS organisations have determined their own
communication needs, they are able to access a wide range of communication
tools from assessed suppliers, which includes pager/bleep replacement.

3. What monitoring has been done to ensure that NHS organisations are
phasing out pagers/bleeps within the proposed timeframe and what is the
current situation? (Please provide any progress reports.)

NHSX does not believe it is fair or proportionate to impose deadlines on
hospital trusts to phase out non-emergency pager use during the pandemic.

NHSX provided £3 million pounds of funding in 20/21 for NHS Trusts to
procure clinical communication solutions through the Clinical
Communication Tools procurement framework, to support the acceleration and
adoption of proven technologies and to phase out pagers. The funding is
expected to directly replace c19,000 pagers, in addition to progress made
by individual NHS organisations for which the procurement framework
continues to be available to NHS organisations to support the continued
progress

4. What were the detailed selection criteria for accepting suppliers onto
the procurement framework?

Please see the attached Invitation to Tender document, which outlines the
selection criteria.

5. How were users involved in the supplier selection process for the
procurement framework?

There were 10 different Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) involved in the
supplier selection process. The SMEs evaluated the questions in line with
their expertise.

6. What monitoring has been done of the procurement framework? How many
contracts have been let? How many contracts have been awarded to each
supplier within the framework, which are the awarding bodies and what is
the total value of each of these contracts?

The procurement framework has been actively managed by SCW CSU on behalf
of NHSX. 

There is a requirement to advertise the contracts that have been let,
these can be found on the contracts finder website:

[3]https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

Copyright:- NHS England operates under the terms of the open government
licence. Please see the NHS England Terms and conditions on the
following link: 

[4]http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review. This should be requested in
writing within two months of the date of this letter. Your correspondence
should be labelled “Internal Review” and should outline your concerns
and/or the area(s) you would like the review to consider. Internal Review
requests should be sent to:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Email: [5][NHS England request email]

Please quote the reference number FOI - 2106-1476156 in any future
communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at
the following weblink:
 
[6]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows: PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [7][NHS England request email].

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information
Communications Team
Office of the Chairs, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: [8][NHS England request email]

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information Request (Our Ref: FOI - 2106-1476156)

Dear Constantinos Regas,  

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 8 June 2021.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding.

Your exact request was: 
 
“Dear NHS England,

I had previously sent this to NHSX via their feedback email but I am not
sure if it has been picked up, so I am redirecting this to you. (Please
look out for a duplicate, in case the original has reached you.)

I am undertaking a study on technology adoption within the NHS.

On 23 February 2019, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
announced that NHS trusts should have infrastructure in place to replace
pagers (bleeps) by 30 September 2021, with complete phase out of pagers
(bleeps) by 31 December 2021.

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/news/healt...

NHSX has issued a Clinical Communications Framework:

[2]https://www.nhsx.nhs.uk/key-tools-and-in...

Under the FOI Act, please provide the following information, on
pagers/bleeps:

1. Which NHS organisations are within the scope of the Secretary of
State's announcement above, on phasing out pagers/bleeps?

2. What guidance has NHSX/NHSI/NHSE provided to NHS organisations in
relation to replacing pagers/bleeps? (Please provide a copy of any
documents.)

3. What monitoring has been done to ensure that NHS organisations are
phasing out pagers/bleeps within the proposed timeframe and what is the
current situation? (Please provide any progress reports.)

4. What were the detailed selection criteria for accepting suppliers onto
the procurement framework?

5. How were users involved in the supplier selection process for the
procurement framework?

6. What monitoring has been done of the procurement framework? How many
contracts have been let? How many contracts have been awarded to each
supplier within the framework, which are the awarding bodies and what is
the total value of each of these contracts?”

NHS England holds some of this information.

1. Which NHS organisations are within the scope of the Secretary of
State's announcement above, on phasing out pagers/bleeps?

From the original statement made in Feb 2019, 'all NHS trusts will be
required to phase out pagers'.

2. What guidance has NHSX/NHSI/NHSE provided to NHS organisations in
relation to replacing pagers/bleeps? (Please provide a copy of any
documents.)

NHSX established the Clinical Communication Tools procurement framework in
August 2020. Once NHS organisations have determined their own
communication needs, they are able to access a wide range of communication
tools from assessed suppliers, which includes pager/bleep replacement.

3. What monitoring has been done to ensure that NHS organisations are
phasing out pagers/bleeps within the proposed timeframe and what is the
current situation? (Please provide any progress reports.)

NHSX does not believe it is fair or proportionate to impose deadlines on
hospital trusts to phase out non-emergency pager use during the pandemic.

NHSX provided £3 million pounds of funding in 20/21 for NHS Trusts to
procure clinical communication solutions through the Clinical
Communication Tools procurement framework, to support the acceleration and
adoption of proven technologies and to phase out pagers. The funding is
expected to directly replace c19,000 pagers, in addition to progress made
by individual NHS organisations for which the procurement framework
continues to be available to NHS organisations to support the continued
progress

4. What were the detailed selection criteria for accepting suppliers onto
the procurement framework?

Please see the attached Invitation to Tender document, which outlines the
selection criteria.

5. How were users involved in the supplier selection process for the
procurement framework?

There were 10 different Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) involved in the
supplier selection process. The SMEs evaluated the questions in line with
their expertise.

6. What monitoring has been done of the procurement framework? How many
contracts have been let? How many contracts have been awarded to each
supplier within the framework, which are the awarding bodies and what is
the total value of each of these contracts?

The procurement framework has been actively managed by SCW CSU on behalf
of NHSX. 

There is a requirement to advertise the contracts that have been let,
these can be found on the contracts finder website:

[3]https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

Copyright:- NHS England operates under the terms of the open government
licence. Please see the NHS England Terms and conditions on the
following link: 

[4]http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review. This should be requested in
writing within two months of the date of this letter. Your correspondence
should be labelled “Internal Review” and should outline your concerns
and/or the area(s) you would like the review to consider. Internal Review
requests should be sent to:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Email: [5][NHS England request email]

Please quote the reference number FOI - 2106-1476156 in any future
communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at
the following weblink:
 
[6]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows: PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [7][NHS England request email].

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information
Communications Team
Office of the Chairs, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: [8][NHS England request email]

show quoted sections