Star comment: 111 advice line is burden on NHS
You could call it teething troubles. You could also call it a farce which has actually made things worse.
The new NHS 111 national advice line is one of those innovations which must have looked great on paper but in practice is a new technology car crash which has left everybody involved with it tearing their hair out.
It was launched in Shropshire last week to provide non-emergency, out-of-hours medical help for patients.
Those who are lucky enough actually to get through are dealt with by non-clinical staff sitting in a call centre in Birmingham.
You can imagine them as they go through their check sheets, tick boxes, and protocols.
Is this better than talking to somebody with medical knowledge?
If the aim is to take pressure off GPs, it has backfired. With the 111 service running into "operational and technical issues", calls are now being diverted to Shropshire's out-of-hours ShropDoc service, run by 300 local GPs.
According to one ShropDoc GP, people are waiting an hour to get through on the 111 advice line and one result of the 111 mode of operation is that more ambulances have been sent out.
Meanwhile, more call handlers are being recruited to help the 111 service cope with demand.
It smacks of poor planning leading directly to poor performance, with the upshot that things are having to be fixed as they go along. And it is not the first time that innovative new schemes within the NHS have ended up a mess on the floor.
It was surely not too difficult to anticipate that if you make access to services easier, then people will take advantage of that easier access to those services. Easier access also lowers the bar psychologically. Slight pain? Just dial 111.
Having launched the service, it must now be made to work, because the last thing the NHS needs is something that adds to its burdens.
