NHS 111 Crisis

I was appalled by the results of the Sunday Mirror investigation (29/12/13) regarding the disastrous NHS 111 service; as this latest episode, highlights unequivocally that you cannot trust the Tories with the National Health Service. David Cameron is presiding over a service that never fails to amaze the British public, as presumably they hope that neither themselves nor their family members have to call the ‘helpline’ in their hour of need. After the coalition government scrapped the NHS Direct service, it replaced the former with an incompetent one that is now playing Russian roulette with people’s lives. The very thought of a seventeen year old, without any relevant qualifications, deciding if my condition requires emergency treatment makes me shudder, and I worry whether they would be able to make the right choice.

   Furthermore, people who required the service had to wait for twenty minutes before they were put through to an adviser; every minute must have been agonising for the individual needing to speak to somebody. NHS 111, is supposed to relieve pressure on A & E, but when more revelations come to light, people are rightly going to be seriously concerned about calling this helpline, and will instead visit hospitals that are already overflowing with patients as it is.

   David Cameron needs to address the staffing crisis of the service, find more funding to hire qualified and experienced medical personnel, and find a way to drastically reduce the waiting times, before someone is connected to NHS 111. Then perhaps the public may have trust, in what can only be described as a bungling, crisis service on this current evidence.

By Ryan Hillback

Wolverhampton