Full NHS 111 service launch in region faces three-month delay

The free service designed to make it easier for people to access urgent health, dental and social care was due to go live across the region at the start of April.

But national concerns about the capacity of the service across the country triggered a delay and 111 is currently fully operational in the region in West Yorkshire, Bassetlaw and North Lincolnshire.

Yesterday NHS chiefs from the region’s GP-led clinical commissioning groups said they hoped to have it working across the region by the end of July.

A spokesman for NHS 111, run by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in partnership with Local Care Direct under a £132m five-year contract, said: “Further roll-out will take place in due course following authorisation from NHS England. NHS 111 is a very new service and at this stage we are satisfied that it is performing well. We will continue to work with our healthcare partners to develop the service as it rolls out more widely across the region.”

Officials said the service is handling around 2,000 calls on a weekday and double that at weekends.

During the three-day May Day bank holiday weekend it answered calls from more than 11,700 patients.

The helpline, with call centres in Wath-upon-Dearne, Wakefield and York, is designed to give advice to people requiring urgent help or put them in touch with services best suited to their needs.

It is particularly aimed at improving out-of-hours care amid evidence as many as a third of people needing help at night-time and weekends simply head to A&E.

Early returns from the week ending March 20 in Yorkshire showed on average 5.2 per cent of callers ringing 111 were referred to A&E and one in nine were told to dial 999. Around half of daytime calls related to dental problems, according to one report.

The service went live at the beginning of March in West Yorkshire and Bassetlaw and began taking calls formerly dealt with by NHS Direct later that month but its full launch was halted by NHS England, triggering widespread anger among GPs who were forced to make short-notice arrangements to ensure out-of-hours calls were answered.

NHS England last week ordered an external review of the service to learn lessons for future projects after complaints of lengthy delays answering calls and claims some people were left without vital care. Officials reported improvements although performance was still “unacceptable” in some areas, in particular at weekends.