Running: Meeting the demand of 111 for primary care services
Model overview
MOOOD is an open-source discrete-event simulation developed by Richard Pilbery and colleagues. It follows callers after an NHS 111 primary-care disposition and represents subsequent contact with primary care, NHS 111, ambulance services and emergency departments. The Python and SimPy model compares the existing system with timely primary-care contact and reports activity across services and avoidable ED attendance.
The original data and parameters relate to callers registered with Bradford and Airedale GP practices, so reuse elsewhere requires local review and validation.
The link to sign up to this cycle will be released on 28th October 2026. Please check back then to register your interest in attending.
Actions for participants before the session
Open the MOOOD repository and follow the setup instructions. Participants should aim to:
- Clone the repository and follow the setup instructions in the README to get the model running locally.
- Read the abstract and strengths and limitations in the BMJ Open paper.
Alternatively, participants can use CodeSpaces to explore the model without a local installation (see README for details). The aim is for participants to come to the session with a successful model run that they can continue to explore.
Session objectives and outline
This session will focus on discussing how participants experienced getting the model running. Participants will:
- discuss any issues they encountered and how they resolved them;
- share their experience of running the model and interpreting the outputs;
- discuss what they learned from attempting to reproduce an existing model
Additional resources
- GitHub repository — model, application, tests, data and container configuration.
- Generated technical documentation — documentation for the codebase.
- BMJ Open paper — peer-reviewed methods, results and limitations.
- Full text in PubMed Central — alternative open-access version of the paper.