NHS Direct wants to end 111 phone service contracts

Admin
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NHS Direct wants to end 111 phone service contracts Jul 29, 2013 15:52:10 GMT

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Post by Admin on Jul 29, 2013 15:52:10 GMT

A major provider of the NHS non-emergency telephone service in England is seeking to pull out of its contracts due to financial problems.

NHS Direct initially won 11 of the 46 regional contracts for the service, covering 34% of the population.

It has already pulled out of two services, but now says the remaining nine are "financially unsustainable".

The whole 111 service has been plagued with problems. NHS bosses have said there is no room for complacency.

The service is run by different organisations in each area, including private companies, ambulance trusts and NHS Direct - which ran the old telephone advice line.

Discussions are already taking place with other providers, particularly the ambulance trusts, to see who could take over from NHS Direct.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23465966

dangermouse
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NHS Direct wants to end 111 phone service contracts Jul 30, 2013 16:06:50 GMT

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Post by dangermouse on Jul 30, 2013 16:06:50 GMT

Apparently they tendered for their own jobs at £7 per call, won most but not all of the contracts, and have discovered that their costs are around £11 a call. NHS direct is/was staffed by RN's. The private sector call-centre providers have lay people, working from scripts.

ShivaTD
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NHS Direct wants to end 111 phone service contracts Jul 31, 2013 11:17:13 GMT

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Post by ShivaTD on Jul 31, 2013 11:17:13 GMT

Jul 30, 2013 16:06:50 GMT dangermouse said:

Apparently they tendered for their own jobs at £7 per call, won most but not all of the contracts, and have discovered that their costs are around £11 a call. NHS direct is/was staffed by RN's. The private sector call-centre providers have lay people, working from scripts.

Why in the world would they use all RN's for this purpose? I can understand that some of the calls might need immediate medical advice but couldn't they just have a few RN's on staff and transfer the call?

You give a pothead marijuana with nothing to smoke out of and suddenly they become engineers.

dangermouse
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NHS Direct wants to end 111 phone service contracts Jul 31, 2013 20:51:29 GMT

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Post by dangermouse on Jul 31, 2013 20:51:29 GMT

NHS Direct was set up as a branch of the NHS to offer online expert advice and support, but also as a deployment option for work-injured nurses. The 111 service was rushed out as a stopgap to reverse the overuse of emergency rooms due to the government screwup of GP contracts which allowed them to opt out of evening and weekend working. The third-party agencies set up to provide the cover were inadequate to the task, so anyone with an out-of-hours problem went to the hospitals.
Private sector services operate scripted call centres, where the patient, who has had to diagnose themselves as a non-urgent case, rings in to face a 40-question interrogation, which in too many cases ends with the advice to attend the emergency room anyway.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2302146/111-NHS-Service-Girl-potentially-fatal-appendicitis-died-doctor-failed-parents-back.html
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326796/NHS-111-Family-slams-hotline-terminally-ill-Anne-Anthony-waited-NINE-hours-help.html

The Daily Mail has an endless supply of anti-NHS complaints..

ShivaTD
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NHS Direct wants to end 111 phone service contracts Aug 1, 2013 9:38:56 GMT

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Post by ShivaTD on Aug 1, 2013 9:38:56 GMT

A rather bazaar experiment to say the least. One thing I've learned over time is that governments tend to address symptoms of problems and rarely address the actual problem and that appears to be the case here.

You give a pothead marijuana with nothing to smoke out of and suddenly they become engineers.