NHS24 callers face wait of 5 minutes for answer

THOUSANDS of patients are waiting too long for vital medical advice as Scotland’s NHS helpline faces an acute staffing crisis.

Bosses at NHS24 have launched a recruitment drive and adopted emergency measures including drafting in senior managers to answer calls at peak times.

New figures seen by The Scottish Mail on Sunday show more than 10,600 people had to wait more than five minutes for anyone at the service to pick up the phone.

A new report blames understaffing and admits NHS24 faces ‘a challenge... in aligning demand with deployment’.

Bosses are also considering whether, in addition to the call centres, extra staff could work from home at peak times to ease pressure on the service, which takes 1.5 million calls every year.

NHS24 defended its ‘safe and effective service’, saying patient satisfaction was high and new recruits had already improved performance. However in March just 57 per cent of calls were answered within 30 seconds against a target of 90 per cent – a situation which critics branded ‘unacceptable’.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘Callers to NHS24 deserve to be dealt with quickly and efficiently. If it’s not properly staffed and resourced, it will be yet another area of primary care that patients feel they can’t turn to.’

The service was under particular pressure at the weekends, the report said. In a statement, NHS24 said: ‘Service performance levels, which are set as national targets by the Scottish Government, are dependent on call demand and staffing levels.

‘We have recently recruited a significant intake of new staff which are already having a positive impact on service performance levels, which already this week are at 85 per cent and our recruitment programme is continuing.

‘When a patient calls the service at busy times, it may take longer for their call to be answered, and our telephone messaging clearly directs callers with serious symptoms to dial 999.

‘For patients with less serious symptoms, a range of options are given, including referring callers, where appropriate, to seek selfcare advice through our self-help guides on NHS inform.’