A third patient died unexpectedly after being referred by NHS 111 to an
out-of-hours GP in the West Midlands, the magazine reported.
Although the 111 line is now running in 37 of 44 regions in England, NHS
Direct is still active in 21 areas where it is either running alone or in
tandem with the new service.
In many of these areas the 111 line has been “soft launched†meaning it has
been switched on but not advertised to local people, who may not even be
aware it is active, a spokesman for NHS Direct said.
The figures were released by NHS England as it insisted that “a good NHS
111 service is now operating in most of the country†and meeting a “gold
standard†of performance despite problems in some areas such as weekend
care.
Last month the launch of 111 lines in several regions was aborted or suspended
after problems surfaced in dozens of areas which had been running the
service under a pilot scheme.
Some patients complained their calls were going unanswered while doctors and
paramedics warned that call handlers were dispatching ambulances to deal
with trivial cases like hiccups, making them too busy to attend real
emergencies.
NHS England issued its statement after a board meeting on Friday where senior
officials backed proposals to set up an external review into the service.
It said: “The performance standards which have now been introduced for
NHS 111 represent a gold standard which the majority of NHS 111 services in
England are now meeting, though in some areas performance is still
unacceptable especially at weekends.
“Some local providers of NHS 111 have not provided the prompt reliable
service the public need and want.â€
Dr Laurence Buckman, chair of the British Medical Association’s General
Practitioners Committee, said: “The taxpayer is paying a lot of money
for something that does not work.
“The NHS has had too many ambulance calls, too many people going to AE,
and this is not how it should have been. What has happened is exactly as
doctors and nurses separately predicted it would be.â€
