In the lead up to Helplines Awareness Day, we spoke to Emma Trueman, Team Lead for EPUT’s contact centre and the NHS 111 crisis line. Emma tells us why she’s so passionate about her role, the challenges the team can face and what makes her job so rewarding.
Hi Emma, how long have you worked at EPUT and what roles have you had?
I started working here in 2011, working in the office at the contact centre. I did this for a year and half and then started working nights. In 2021 I became the team lead for the contact centre.
What is the role of the contact centre?
The contact centre has such a varied role within the organisation. We do everything from answering crisis calls via the NHS 111 crisis line, helping patients contact their care coordinator and answering calls from concerned loved ones of patients, as well as consultants, GPs and the police and ambulance services, and other professionals. We also provide out of hours support for teams with the trust. In 2023, the contact centre handled more than 250,000 calls.
When we receive a call via the crisis line, we will take their details and transfer them to the appropriate crisis response team covering their area.
We are the first port of call for mental health related calls and our agents work hard to find resolutions to the callers query.
We will often support with large projects and we managed the Covid line during the pandemic, as well as calls related to mass vaccinations. This can often be challenging and highly pressured, but we all work together to support where we can.
What are some of the challenges you face?
We try to help family members who are concerned about their loved ones but this can sometimes pose challenges due to patient confidentiality. We do as much as we can to help people, but sometimes things are out of our control.
We always assess whether or not the caller is in crisis and get them help as quickly as we can.
The types of calls we receive on the crisis line can also be very challenging as we are helping people who are experiencing a mental health crisis and are at their most vulnerable. In these types of situations we will liaise with the ambulance and police services to get the person emergency care and ensure they are safe.
What do you like most about your role?
The role is challenging but this is one of the things that I love about it. It’s so varied and I never know what’s going to happen each day. I also enjoy being able to support my team with the calls they find challenging. Sometimes we can act as investigators to try and get to the bottom of a query and I love being able to resolve problems for people.
It’s also very rewarding knowing that you’re helping people who are in need. Some people say that they wouldn’t be able to do this job, and that really reminds you of the significance of it.
I am also proud of the supportive environment we have amongst the team. You have to look after your own mental health and look out for each other in this role. You might receive a call one day that really affects you, the calls can be complex and emotionally draining. We all understand and we all look after one another.
What would you say to someone who might be considering working in the contact centre?
You have to know what you’re going to face, so we often ask prospective employees to listen to examples of complex calls before they make the decision to join us. You need to be able to learn to switch off so you don’t take things home with you.
If you can do that, then there is a really supportive team waiting to welcome you. The job is highly rewarding, and as a team we are all really approachable and we can offer flexibility within the role.
If you think you might be a great fit for the team, find out how you could join them on the EPUT website.