Programme overview
Introduction:
Health contact centre and telephone triage management, covering nurse advice lines and call audit, is a 1-week course for units that run health hotlines, nurse triage lines and appointment centres, ending with a Health Contact Centre Service Plan for a case organisation. Health lines lose trust when disposition rules drift, nurse cover misses peak hours and recorded calls go unaudited. Nominees already supervise call handlers, triage nurses or line performance, and learn through case studies on call logs, disposition data and audit samples. CoreConcept Training Center delivers this health contact centre and telephone triage management course.
Course Objectives:
- Profile a health contact centre's service lines, caller demand and disposition outcomes against an agreed access and ED diversion goal
- Govern a licensed clinical decision support system, two-tier call flow, disposition levels and local protocol overrides
- Calculate call handler and triage nurse requirements with Erlang C and design skill mix, remote working and callback queues
- Audit recorded triage calls, measure under-triage and over-triage and run safety netting and incident review routines
- Link triage dispositions to appointment booking, urgent care and telehealth video escalation pathways
- Produce a Health Contact Centre Service Plan with a KPI set covering answer speed, disposition mix and ED avoidance
Target Audience:
- Management units accountable for the performance and budget of health hotlines and nurse advice lines
- Nursing supervision teams responsible for triage nurse rosters, call quality and clinical escalation on each shift
- Clinical governance units that approve triage protocols, review incidents and own call audit results
- Workforce planning units that forecast caller demand and set staffing for call handlers and nurses
- Access and patient navigation units in insurers and hospital groups that manage appointment and urgent care booking
Course Outline:
Day 1: Health Contact Centre Service Models, Caller Demand and Baseline
- Health Contact Centre Service Lines From Information to Nurse Triage
- Nurse Advice Line, Health Hotline and Appointment Centre Roles Compared
- Caller Demand Profile by Reason, Hour and Channel
- ED Diversion Goals Set by Ministries, Insurers and Hospital Groups
- Contact Centre Baseline From Call Logs and Disposition Records
Day 2: Telephone Triage Protocol Governance and Disposition Frameworks
- Clinical Decision Support System Selection and Licensing Criteria
- Two-Tier Call Flow From Call Handler to Triage Nurse
- Disposition Level Framework From Self-Care to Emergency Transfer
- Protocol Change Control and Local Override Approval Routine
- Red-Flag Call Escalation Rules and Ambulance Transfer Handoff
Day 3: Workforce Planning, Skill Mix and Call Handling Operations
- Erlang C Staffing Model for Call Handlers and Nurses
- Skill Mix Design Across Navigators, Triage Nurses and Physicians
- Remote Triage Nurse Home-Working Standards and Supervision
- Callback Queue Management and Priority Ring-Back Targets
- Appointment Booking Integration With Hospital and Clinic Schedules
Day 4: Clinical Governance, Call Audit, Safety Netting and KPIs
- Call Recording Audit Tool and Sampling Plan for Nurses
- Under-Triage and Over-Triage Rate Measurement and Review
- Safety Netting Advice Scripts and Worsening Symptom Instructions
- Serious Incident Review for Missed Urgent Callers
- KPI Set for Disposition Mix, Answer Speed and ED Avoidance
Day 5: Case Study Work on the Health Contact Centre Service Plan
- Case Organisation Demand Forecast and Erlang Staffing Calculation
- Case Disposition Mix Review and Protocol Override Findings
- Case Call Audit Results and Nurse Feedback Plan
- Telehealth Video Escalation and Urgent Care Booking Pathway Map
- Health Contact Centre Service Plan Completion and Peer Challenge
Skills You Will Gain:
- Caller Demand Forecasting
- Triage Protocol Governance
- Disposition Mix Analysis
- Contact Centre Staffing Calculation
- Triage Call Auditing
- Safety Netting Design
- Care Pathway Integration
- Health Line KPI Reporting
Why Attend This Course:
- Deliver a Health Contact Centre Service Plan to the line director and the ministry, insurer or hospital group executive that funds the service
- Decide which dispositions route callers to self-care, booked appointments, video consultation or emergency transfer, and how many nurses each hour needs
- Avoid missed urgent callers, unanswered queues and avoidable emergency department attendances caused by over-cautious triage
- Share the audit tool, staffing calculator, disposition review sheet and KPI set with supervisors and triage nurses
Conclusion:
Back at work, the participant gives the Health Contact Centre Service Plan to the line director, the clinical governance committee and the executive sponsor in the ministry, insurer or hospital group. They use it to approve the disposition framework, nurse and call handler staffing, audit sampling and booking links to clinics and telehealth services. After the first quarter under the plan, the centre should compare answer speed, under-triage and over-triage rates, callback delays and ED avoidance with the baseline and adjust protocols or rosters that have not improved.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What should participants know before a health contact centre and telephone triage management course?
Participants should already supervise call handlers, triage nurses, line performance or clinical governance for a health line. Bringing anonymised call logs, disposition reports or audit forms helps them apply the case study work to their own centre.
How does health contact centre and telephone triage management differ from an emergency dispatch or general contact centre course?
It manages a nurse-led advice and booking line: triage protocol governance, disposition levels, nurse staffing, call audit and ED diversion. Emergency dispatch courses send ambulances and police to incidents, and general contact centre courses serve customers without clinical risk.
Why do under-triage and over-triage rates matter in health contact centre and telephone triage management?
They show whether the line is safe and useful. Under-triage leaves urgent callers at home, while over-triage sends callers who could self-care or book a clinic to the emergency department, which removes the access benefit the line was funded to deliver.
What do participants take back from the health contact centre and telephone triage management course?
Participants take back a Health Contact Centre Service Plan with a demand forecast, Erlang staffing calculation, disposition review, call audit tool, safety netting scripts, a pathway map to booking and telehealth, and a KPI set.