Ambulance chiefs in East Lancashire in talks to run 111 service

The controversial 111 line, for urgent but non-emergency advice, was thrown into turmoil this week when the main provider, NHS Direct, announced it wanted to withdraw from its ‘financially unsustainable’ contracts in nine areas, including Lancashire and Cumbria.

North West Ambulance Service yesterday revealed it was in preliminary discussions about taking on part of the contract ‘to ensure continuity and safety of services in the region’, but would not release further details.

Members of Lancashire and Cumbria’s Consortium of Local Medical Committees said the 111 line, operated from a call centre in Bolton, was always doomed to fail, as call handlers were not clinically trained.

The service has been operating as a pilot scheme in East Lancashire since 2011, before the national roll-out in April this year, with staff also handling calls for East Lancashire Medical Services [ELMS], the out-of-hours GP provider.

Diane Ridgway, chief executive of ELMS, said there had been poor recording of patient information and a 30 per cent increase in call volumes during the pilot.

She said: “To mitigate these problems ELMS already have a clinical triage service which sits underneath NHS 111. This triage by GPs will continue for the foreseeable future, so ELMS will be able to cope with any changes in service during the out-of-hours period.

“We are waiting for a steer from commissioners as to how they want to progress and will work with the clinical commissioners to ensure patient services are not affected.”

The increase in demand for ELMS is thought to be partly down to an overly cautious approach by 111 staff, due to their lack of clinical training, meaning they often refer patients on to GPs or paramedics unnecessarily.

Blackpool health chief Dr Amanda Doyle, speaking on behalf of the North West clinical commissioning groups, said the 111 service was still ‘available and safe’ to use, and a new provider would be arranged ‘as soon as possible’.