Doctors have warned that the new 111 phone number for non-emergency services has led to up to three times more ambulance call-outs and could lower the standard of care that children receive.
The Department Of Health has laid down an April 2013 deadline for introducing the 111 helpline, which will replace NHS Direct as the first port of call for patients with urgent, but not life-threatening, symptoms.
But the British Medical Association’s conference of GPs last week urged the Government to delay implementing the number due to ‘serious concerns about the design and precipitous introduction of the 111 model’.
I didn’t even know that NHS were introducing a new 111 number! I wonder how they propose to promote it? Also, what’s the cut off between calling 999 and 111? I hope they provide some sensible guidelines.
on May 29, 2012 at 3:20 pm Joanne