NHS 111 call handler tells ITV News the service is struggling to cope

The NHS 111 service was rolled out last year to handle urgent but not emergency calls Credit: ITV News

An NHS whistleblower has told ITV News the 111 phone service can't cope because it hasn't got enough medically-trained staff to call on.

NHS 111 was designed to ease the pressure on England's overstretched A&E units. But the call handler, who works for one of the country's biggest providers, claims she regularly has to send ambulances to patients she knows don't need them.

The service is meant to answer 95% of calls within a minute. NHS England admits that during the busiest times that target isn't met. But the call handler claims that at evenings and weekends the service isn't safe.

She reveals a catalogue of chaos over Christmas, telling ITV News:

During the busiest week in December, NHS 111 dealt with nearly twice as many calls as usual. Patients needing to speak to a clinician are meant to be called back within 10 minutes but the whistleblower claims callers told her they'd been waiting for up to eight hours.

"The qualified nurses and paramedics work non-stop and I know they are trying to recruit more," she said.

"Recently over the weekend, going into work in the early hours, there were still 70 people on the clinicians list that have called in either overnight or on the previous night, and were still waiting for a call back."

Without a nurse or a paramedic available to give advice, 111 call handlers, none of whom are medically trained, have to rely on following the advice generated by the NHS Pathways computer programme.

The whistleblower describes how on one occasion a call came in from a woman with a bleeding false fingernail.

"One of the questions asked was 'have you felt numbness or pins and needles in your hands?' It's the power of suggestion. She had been drinking so she says 'Now you mention it...' and that came up as an ambulance."

On that occasion a clinician was around to override the computer's decision. Had one not been available, the whistleblower says the risk-averse system would have had to be followed and an ambulance would have been sent.

(Source: NHS England)

A&E units across England missed their waiting time targets this winter Credit: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

NHS emergency departments have faced one of their toughest winters on record. At times, less than 90% of patients being seen within four hours - the target is 95%.

Dr Clifford Mann, president of the College of Emergency Medicine, has told MPs that it is not the fault of patients being told to attend A&E by NHS 111 call handlers.

Speaking at a session of the Health Select Committee earlier this month, he said: "I don't think you should blame people for attending an emergency department when we've told them to go there, it's absurd."

An NHS England spokesperson said: "NHS 111 is doing an excellent job in terms of protecting both A&E and ambulance services from unnecessary attendances and call outs.

"Last year 111 received over 12 million calls and as a result offered treatment to over two million people who would otherwise have visited A&E, and another 580,000 who would have called 999 for an ambulance, reducing a significant amount of unnecessary pressure on our urgent care services."