{"id":605,"date":"2015-10-13T08:39:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T07:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/?p=605"},"modified":"2021-02-23T13:28:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T13:28:46","slug":"nhs-111-lacks-medically-trained-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/nhs-111-lacks-medically-trained-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS 111 Lacks Medically Trained Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHS 111 helpline service is in danger of being \u201ccompletely overwhelmed\u201d, with staff shortages, a lack of medical training and serious mistakes putting lives at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

NHS 111 is considered a non-emergency number and is aimed at those who need medical advice quickly, but who are not classified as an emergency. <\/span><\/p>\n

The NHS states on their website that all callers will be put through to a \u2018highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCompletely unsafe\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

However, a former employee at the Midlands centre has revealed this is not the case, describing the service as \u201ccompletely unsafe\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The whistle-blower said most staff do not have a medical background, and instead are given just three weeks of training. They are reliant upon a tick-box computer system which is open to human and technical error. <\/span><\/p>\n

Staff shortages are an issue, and sometimes a single nurse must cover a population of 2.3 million people, contributing towards 75% of calls going unanswered.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is alleged these failings have led to the deaths of two babies, both of which had red flag symptoms of infection which were missed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI find it terrifying \u2013 it\u2019s just chaos. The whole time I was there I felt it was just a matter of time before something happened\u201d, the whistle-blower said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were always short-staffed. There were never enough nurses. I\u2019m not medically trained and I just don\u2019t think I was equipped to make those decisions. The amount of times I would go home in tears with the stress of it \u2013 it was horrific.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMore information from Google\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Patricia Marquis of the Royal College of Nursing agreed that it is not safe to use staff with no medical training. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA script and a computer programme simply can\u2019t replace the advice of a skilled, experienced nurse, who can spot the signs of serious conditions and ensure that the urgent help is given.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAction is needed to stop the system being completely overwhelmed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Melissa Mead, who lost her son William to sepsis after contacting NHS 111 for help, said she \u201ccould have got more information from Google.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe very first thing on the phone call, I explained that William was in \u2018severe pain\u2019. The call handler put he was not in pain. That is error \u2013 human error. They asked whether he had a temperature for over three days. But sepsis can kill you in 12 hours. Three days is useless.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mrs Mead was told her son\u2019s symptoms were typical of a viral infection. She found him unresponsive the following morning. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow many children are going to die before they realise they need to be proactive, not reactive. Call handlers need to pay attention to detail. For them it\u2019s a job, but that phone call was a pivotal point in our child\u2019s care\u201d, she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact us today\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

If you would like expert legal advice about making a medical negligence claim, please get in touch with our team today. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NHS 111 helpline service is in danger of being \u201ccompletely overwhelmed\u201d, with staff shortages, a lack of medical training and serious mistakes putting lives at risk. NHS 111 is considered a non-emergency number and is aimed at those who need medical advice quickly, but who are not classified as an emergency. The NHS states […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,108,557],"tags":[637,638,640,639],"class_list":["post-605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emergency-care-2","category-nhs-staff-shortages","category-sepsis-2","tag-nhs-111","tag-nhs-111-medically-trained-staff","tag-nhs-111-mistakes","tag-nhs-helpline-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":606,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions\/606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}