. The management of structured interviews from lay personnel of the European non-emergency call number 116117.
Introduction: The 116117 telephone number is the European harmonised number (NEA) for access to non-emergency medical care and other low-intensity/priority community health services.
Aim: To describe the model used for handling calls from citizens of the Lombardy Region to the NEA central unit and to compare it with other NEA central unit organisational models.
Methods: The calls received at the centre in 2021 were analysed according to the indicators proposed by a governamental agency (AGENAS).
Results: In 2021, 1,415,590 calls were received (approximately 1 in every 10 inhabitants of the Lombardy Region): 2% were transferred to the 118 emergency service; 92% to the Continuity of Care service and 6% were calls requesting information. The response time to the citizen was on average less than 3 minutes, with 90% of calls being handled within 6 minutes. Most of the NEA centres in Italy are managed by lay people and a structured interview model is adopted in all of them.
Conclusions: The model adopted in Lombardy appears to be safe. The calls were handled without incidents. It would be useful to compare the costs and outcomes of centres organised with other models and to make a comparison of the interview patterns adopted.