Condemned as unsafe, the shambolic 111 call centre exposed by Mail
A DISGRACED 111 service exposed by the Mail has been branded unsafe for patients after an inspection by healthcare watchdogs.
Inspectors found the NHS out-of-hours service was so desperately short of staff that patients were ‘at risk of harm’.
The damning findings are the result of an urgent inspection carried out after the Mail revealed dangerous conditions at the service in the South West.
In a major investigation, the Mail told how exhausted staff at the 111 call centre were falling asleep on duty, while teenagers with no medical training had been brought in to answer potentially life or death calls.
A whistleblowing former manager of the service also told how there were ‘frequently’ no clinicians available in the call centre, run by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
In the wake of the Mail report, it emerged that other whistleblowers at the service had come forward to raise safety concerns including nurses. In a damning report published today, regulators the Care Quality Commission found: ÷Patients were being forced to wait up to 22 hours for a call back from a doctor or nurse; ÷The number of nurses on duty at the helpline was dangerously low – with a third of all posts unfilled; ÷A sick child was seen by inspectors being ‘placed at potential risk’ because no clinically trained person could be found; ÷Staffing problems are so severe that call handlers are being banned from going on holiday; ÷Managers failed to realise the service was not safe and claimed the impact of understaffing problems was ‘incredibly small’; ÷The number of calls answered in time was ‘unacceptable’, with patients waiting up to 17 minutes to get through.
The inspection by the Care Quality Commission was prompted by an investigation by the Mail which found that the 111 service – which is the worst-performing in the country and was linked to the death of baby William Mead – was mired in chaos.
In a series of devastating revelations, a whistleblowing manager told the Mail the service was ‘clearly unsafe’, and that overworked staff including a paramedic were so exhausted they had fallen asleep while they were supposed to be taking important calls.
She also revealed that 17-year- olds without proper training had been brought in to handle potentially life-or-death calls – allegedly in a bid to meet targets.
Whistleblower Sarah Hayes – a former manager at the service – bravely decided to speak out after a damning report into the death of 12-month-old William Mead.
He died in December 2014 following a string of blunders in his care, including failings at the 111 service run by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, which covers Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon and Dorset. The report into William’s death criticised GPs, the out-of-hours service and a 111 call handler who failed to spot he had sepsis caused by an underlying chest infection and pneumonia.
Amid an outcry over Miss Hayes’s revelations, the safety watchdog launched an urgent inspection to investigate the concerns.
In a report published today, it branded the service ‘inadequate’ – the first ever ‘inadequate’ rating for a 111 service.
The watchdog said it was failing to keep patients safe, and demanded it urgently bring in more staff to plug ‘substantial shortages.’
The report also said the 111 service would now be now phasing out the practice – exposed by the Mail – of using untrained advisers as young as 17 to answer potentially life-or-death calls.
Last night the Trust’s chief executive Ken Wenman said he was not surprised by the report – and that the Trust had already ditched the 111 contract in Devon and Cornwall because it realised it could not deliver a safe service with the ‘funds available.’
But William Mead’s mother Melissa, from Penryn, Cornwall, said Mr Wenman should resign over the report. ‘Ken Wenman needs to be made accountable for the failings that led to serious illnesses and deaths,’ she said. ‘He is run-