NHS 24 struggles to cope with rise in calls

NHS 24, Scotland’s national health information phoneline, is struggling to cope with a rise in phone calls from patients.

The helpline revealed in its annual review that it had taken calls from almost 1.5m people in the last year, but had answered less calls within its 30 seconds target than the previous year.

In its annual review the helpline revealed it had taken calls from almost 1.5m people in the last year, but had answered less calls within its 30 seconds target than the previous year.

Despite this the service is meeting targets and has improved its performance over the years.

NHS 24’s chairman, Allan Watson, said: “Demand has been unpredictable and the service has worked hard to adapt to deal with these rising calls. It could be an indicator of increasing level of confidence that the public have in the organisation. We are now a mature organisation and are now perceived as an integral part of the out-of-hours service to the people of Scotland.”

Earlier this year, NHS 24 faced two legal action cases complaining that the helplines neglect contributed to the deaths of two patients.

Phone calls increased 8% on last year, and of these 97.4% were answered within 30 seconds, meeting government targets.

However, this is a fall from last year’s 98.5% rate in the previous year, suggesting the service is struggling to cope with the rise in demand.

The annual review also shows that other figures are down from last year, though still meeting government targets.

Medical advice given within 20 minutes fell from 97% to 94% and non-urgent calls being dealt with in an hour also fell from 97% to 93%.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the annual review, stating that progress was good, but improvements were needed.

“There is a lot to be pleased about. They have made some significant improvements and taken some substantial steps forward. Their performance on call answering and the speed of dealing with calls not dealt with immediately is all very good. There is still room for improvement, and as well as the speed of the call answering there also has to be a focus the quality of the service.

She added NHS 24 should now increase its call centres so there is one in every mainland health board: “They have got five up and running, another four in planning which is good, but I want the circle completed, and I will be following up on that.”

Since its launch in 2002, NHS 24 has dealt with 5.5m calls at call centres in every health board in the country, except NHS Borders and NHS Forth Valley, who are involved in ongoing discussions to open new centres in the future.

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