STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Strength in Numbers dedicated to my late mother Kay

10/07/2015 • 10:22 am 0

NHS 111 helpline service to undergo major revamp following undercover investigation by The Telegraph

All negotiations over the running of local NHS 111 services have been suspended following a Telegraph investigation which exposed major safety risks to patients.

Health officials will issue a new blueprint this autumn promising a new model of care, and national standards on how the helpline should work with ambulances, GP out of hours and urgent care providers.

NHS England’s chief operating officer has written to all providers and commissioners of 111 services, calling for all current tender processes to be halted, until a new “functionally integrated” service has been designed.

The letter was issued last Friday, two days after The Telegraph disclosed concerns about the way 111 helplines are being run. South Central Ambulance Service launched an inquiry after an undercover investigation found call handlers being put under pressure to avoid sending ambulances. Some told how they phrased questions so as to minimise health concerns.

Click on the link to read more 

Speeding ambulance

Speeding ambulance

Filed under: A&E, Hospital, NHS, , , , ,

09/07/2015 • 9:55 am 2

Exposure: NHS Out Of Hours Undercover. Put this date in your diaries

Put this date in your diaries  Wed 22 Jul 2015 10.40pm – 11.40pm on ITV

Exposure: NHS Out Of Hours Undercover

Exposure goes undercover in a privately-run NHS out-of-hours centre and finds doctors not fully trained, targets being manipulated, and patients being asked to assess their own symptoms because the unit is too busy. According to the last GP-patient survey, almost half the public have no idea how to contact out-of-hours services, and last year the Royal College of General Practitioners said doctors were being undermined by ‘a chaotic and underfunded system’.

Covert footage filmed at a centre run by the UK’s biggest private provider of out-of-hours care shows chronic understaffing and medicine cabinets empty of vital drugs. Staff say recent changes aimed at hitting financial targets have affected the service they provide to patients. And experts who view the footage with reporter Mark Austin give a damning assessment of what they see, saying the practices on show could pose a risk to patients’ health.

Prof Susan Mason, one of the country’s top experts in emergency care, says: “I would have concerns that patient care is not at the heart of what they’re doing… I don’t think this is really in line with the true values of the NHS.” Dr Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s special advisor on urgent and unscheduled care, says: “I have to say, if I worked a shift in this [unit], it would only be a single shift  and I’d be blowing whistles… I’d be telling them what I thought.”

The producer-director of this programme is Richard Butchins, and the executive producer is David Henshaw, for Hardcash.

imgres

Filed under: Uncategorized, , , ,

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