No More Silos is a plan, originally published by Health Minister Robin Swann in October 2020, to maintain and improve urgent and emergency care services across Northern Ireland, in anticipation of the Urgent and Emergency Care Review.
Consultation on the Urgent and Emergency Care Review closed on 1 July 2022, drawing out three key strategic priorities:
- Creating an Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care Service
- Capacity, Co-ordination and Performance; and
- Intermediate Care, a regionalised approach
Implementation of these priorities is being overseen by the Urgent and Emergency Care Implementation Board within the Department of Health, with the No More Silos Programme having responsibility for the implementation of Strategic Priority One: Creating an Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care Service.
Of the ten key action points of No More Silos, the focus will now be on key actions 1-5, which are:
- Introduce Urgent Care Centres
- Keep Emergency Departments for Emergencies
- Rapid Access Assessment and Treatment Services
- 24/7 Telephone Clinical Assessment Service – ‘Phone First’
- Scheduling Unscheduled Care
Substantial No More Silos funding has been secured for several projects within the Western Trust. Some of these, such as Phone First, are already in place while others will be coming onstream before the end of 2023.