NHS to hold inquiry into hotline chaos
AN INVESTIGATION was launched last night into evidence of severe understaffing in parts of the NHS outof-hours hotline.
The inquiry came after the Daily Mail revealed how some 111 call centres were in meltdown, with only one nurse left to cover an area of 2.3million people, staff shortages and hundreds of thousands of patients unable to get through for help.
Amid an outcry over the Mail’s evidence, ministers last night demanded urgent assurances that there were enough nurses manning the service.
Health Minister Ben Gummer said: ‘In light of the Mail’s evidence, we have asked NHS England for assurances that the NHS 111 service is doing all it can to help patients. NHS 111 staff should be overseen by clinical experts, including nurses, in every 111 centre.’
As pressure grew over the hotline: ÷The Royal College of Nursing warned that ‘a tragedy could occur’ if more nurses are not urgently hired to staff the call centres; ÷Experts described 111 as a ‘disaster’ and expressed fears for how the system would cope over the winter; ÷Patients’ groups said the Mail’s evidence showed it was ‘not fit for purpose’ and that out- of-hours care was in a ‘crisis situation’.
In a major investigation, the Mail yesterday revealed how the NHS 111 hotline, which replaced NHS Direct and deals with urgent cases, had failed to meet targets for every month so far this year, with half a million patients unable to get through to anyone at all.
Disturbing evidence obtained from a whistle-blower revealed that the service was hit by constant staffing shortages, with just one nurse sometimes left to cover 2.3million people.
As a result of the shortages, up to 75 per cent of callers were unable to get through to anyone at busy times, evidence obtained by the Mail showed. Our investigation highlighted how Melissa Mead, 28, lost her one-year-old son Wil- liam to blood poisoning after a 111 operator with no medicalal training instructed her to give e him Calpol.
Mrs Mead, from Penryn,n, Cornwall, said she ‘could have ve got more information from Google’.’
Last night the director of the Royal College of Nursing said the Government needed drastically to increase the ‘pitiful’ numbers of clinical staff at the service.
‘We really fear that a tragedy could occur,’ said Patricia Marquis. ‘It is extremely worrying that vast numbers of calls are not being answered, leading to patients giving up.
‘It is still more worrying that people with an urgent need for care may not be having that need recognised because they can’t speak to an expert.’ She was particularly concerned that nurses were being told to stop advising on complex cases and to instead help answer routine calls so the service could hit targets.
She added: ‘Shifting to deliver this service on the cheap has been a real false economy, with people either not receiving urgent advice or making unnecessary trips to A&E.’
Joyce Robins, from campaign group Patient Concern, said: ‘This is a crisis situation. NHS 111 is supposed to help doctors and keep people out of surgeries but there is n no point having the service if y you cannot staff it properly. It ju just deceives people into th thinking they are getting help w which isn’t in fact available.
‘It is absolutely ludicrous an and it is dangerous. The calls co could be urgent and they don’t re recognise it. It is a disaster.’ K Katherine Murphy, chief execut utive of the Patients’ Associatio tion, said: ‘Very soon we will be hit hitting our winter crisis. If the ser service that is supposed to be the there to keep people away from A& A&E is not fit for purpose, then we need to address it now.’
M Meanwhile, the head of a 111 ser service that featured in the Ma Mail’s investigation vowed yes yesterday to ‘ take on and investigate further’ the claims of the Mail’s whistle-blower, who worked for the service until earlier this year.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Stephen Bateman, chief executive of Derbyshire Health United, added: ‘I’d like to reassure the public that Derbyshire Health United provides a very safe service.
‘We have had a recent Care Quality Commission inspection which confirmed that the service we provide is safe and caring for our patients, not only in Derbyshire but across the East Midlands.’