With an attached Capacity Management System, NHS Pathways is designed to factor in what services are available local to the patient when supplying care provision.

NHS Pathways evolved following reports by the National Audit Office (NAO) into the inconsistency of 'hear and treat' statistics across the ambulance services of the United Kingdom.

[11] Using an attached capacity management system (CMS) NHS Pathways can analyse the medical services local to each caller, and thus direct the patient to nearby minor injury units or doctor's surgeries depending on the presenting condition.

Its newly introduced dashboard, based on the volume of triages going through NHS Pathways, proved itself as a valuable indicator for getting early warnings about potential local outbreaks.

NHS111 online became a reliable and trusted source of NHS and government guidance on the pandemic, also connecting the public to additional digital services related to coronavirus, such as the issue of isolation notes or sending text messages to support patients who were managing their illness at home.