West Country (E) NHS 111

NHS Undercover: Channel 4’s Dispatches programme claims that the NHS 111 service, including services provided by Harmoni from centres in Bristol and Dorking, leave patients waiting for calls and is understaffed.

But the programme doesn’t show a representative picture of how the NHS 111 service actually works or how it is performing, how quickly it responds to patients with a diverse range of needs or how it affects other urgent health care services.

Remember that the NHS 111 service is not an emergency service and doesn’t replace the 999 service.

Harmoni has given Channel 4 and Dispatches a detailed response to the concerns the programme broadcast, many of which were based on third hand comments and anecdotes, gathered over only a handful of days, without checking how the service was actually performing."

The Channel 4 documentary revealed significant shortfalls in performance of the NHS 111 service for the Wiltshire area following the launch of the service earlier this year.

The programme showed evidence of poor staffing levels, poor training, and non-medical staff making judgement calls in the absence of clinical advisors.

The poor standards of service which have been delivered to patients needing non-emergency care across the Wiltshire region are wholly unacceptable.

NHS Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have assured me that work is ongoing with Harmoni to address the areas which remain below standard. I have asked them for the specific actions they are implementing to resolve the problems and the expected dates for improvement.

Given the new commissioning arrangements that put GPs and patients at the heart of service decisions, we have an opportunity to sort out this service and make it robust for the future."

I would like to reassure the people of Somerset that despite NHS Direct announcing that contractual difficulties have forced it to withdraw from providing the 111 service to Somerset, the service is continuing to operate as normally.

As an interim measure, we are holding talks with the South Western Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust with a view to ensuring the 111 service in Somerset continues to deliver a safe and prompt service.

In the coming months Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group will be preparing to go out to tender again to secure a new provider of its 111 service.

The 111 service is an absolutely vital source of information and reassurance to the British public, especially for those who cannot easily get out and about to visit their GPs.

If people don't have confidence in it, or if it's not available in their area, then they will present at A&E instead, putting further strain on already stretched services.

The British Red Cross is calling on the government to ensure more preventative services are in place for everyone in or at risk of a health crisis, and the 111 line is one of them.