Highest upturn in calls to 111

West Berks has biggest increase in Berkshire West

WEST Berkshire has seen the highest number of calls to the NHS GP phone service in Berkshire.

WestCall, which runs the service, says since Covid it has seen an increase in the numbers of West Berkshire patients calling NHS 111, which is higher than in other Berkshire West areas.

Around 15,422 people called the service last year – an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year.

WestCall operates by concerned patients ringing it on 111, and a doctor calls back to talk through the symptoms and decide on next steps.

It says there are no waiting lists as all patients must be ‘outcomed’ before close of service each day.

In a report to West Berkshire’s health scrutiny committee, it said there a cyber attack on the software it uses in August.

That attack resulted in the service being shut down, and it had to resort to email, paper and word documents.

As a result of the Adastra (software) outage the system is now slower and therefore patients are experiencing longer waits.

But WestCall says operational and clinical teams are working flat out to ensure patient safety and prioritise the most urgent and vulnerable patients.

The report goes on to say that staffing is a major concern for all primary care services and particularly out of hours.

“The available number of doctors is not increasing and fewer clinicians are prepared to work nights and weekends,” it said.

“Demand levels have led to pay escalation for sessional and agency doctors and clinicians, there is competition on rates as home triage has become a major delivery method.

“The increase in NHS 111 referrals for non-urgent care means that the increase we have experienced in workload is often made up of low acuity cases, which could safely be self-managed or dealt with locally at a pharmacy.”

WestCall is the go-to medical service for migrants housed in West Berkshire, via phone triage and visiting services, particularly before they get registered with surgeries.

It sees more than 100 un-registered patients every week, many of whom are members of the traveller community and homeless people.