Nurses barred from handling NHS 111 Covid calls after 60% found to be unsafe (NHS England)

[Northerner]

The NHS 111 service has permanently stopped nurses and other healthcare professionals handling clinical calls with people suspected of having Covid-19 after an audit of recorded calls found more than 60% were not safe.

The audit was triggered in July after many of the medical professionals recruited to work in the clinical division of the 111 service sounded the alarm, saying they did not feel “properly skilled and competent” to fulfil such a critical role.

An investigation was launched into several individual cases after the initial review found that assurances could not be given “in regard to the safety of these calls”, according to an email, seen by the Guardian, from the clinical assurance director of the National Covid-19 Pandemic Response Service. In a further email on 14 August, she told staff that after listening to a “significant number” of calls “so far over 60% … have not passed the criteria demonstrating a safe call”.

A number of “clinical incidents” were being investigated, she said, because some calls “may have resulted in harm”. One case had been “escalated as a serious untoward incident with potential harm to the patient”.

Nurses barred from NHS 111 Covid clinical division after 60% of calls unsafe

Concern grows over 111 guidance after audit of clinical calls handled by nurses, paramedics and physios

www.theguardian.com

 

[grovesy]

I saw a programme on NHS call handlers a couple of months ago and covered training of call handlers, they just followed on screen script.None in the programme I saw had a health care background.

 

[mikeydt1]

i knew ages ago that these call handlers were following scripts. if you didn't follow the pattern for heart attack or stroke then basically they just didn't have a clue what next. more often if you didn't follow the pattern they would call an ambulance for something which probably didn't need an ambulance or if you did require an ambulance then they wouldn't bother and tell you and make you wait endless hours just to speak to someone. or if it was serious just leave the person to suffer and there have been reported deaths over the years from handlers to who ever getting things wrong.

in our area the situation is call handler who might call an ambulance if not then it is passed to a nurse or paramedic where you would need to go back through all the details and then if lucky passed on to a doctor who hadn't any details again so again you would have to explain everything all over. or worse still they would simply tell you to wait till your surgery opened the next day, by then hours have been waisted.

i said it over and over that 111 was totally incapable of dealing with covid.

the situation of testing and people not sure of their symptoms is a total mess up.