Assessment guide is useful for all
Mock scenarios and helpful exercises make this book more than an exam guide, says Dr Lizzie Croton. Read more
News
DoH considers single three-digit number for urgent care calls
29-Apr-08
Calls to NHS Direct and GP out-of-hours services could soon be combined into single three-digit number for urgent care calls.
The idea has the backing of both the government and the opposition. But GPs warned that it would further erode doctors' position within primary care.
Dr Peter Holden, a GPC negotiator, said that simplification would benefit patients, but warned: ‘My concern is that it's being done to eventually cut GPs out of the loop.'
He said that the current system, under which surgery phone lines automatically redirect to the right provider out of hours, was more appropriate in maintaining a link between GPs and patients.
Lord Darzi's interim report last October said there may be benefits in adopting a three-digit number as a single point of contact. A spokesman confirmed that the DoH was currently ‘looking at how this might work'.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have proposed introducing ‘a single memorable number' to deal with all telephone triage calls.
A spokeswoman stressed that this wouldn't mean the abolition of NHS Direct.
Comment below and tell us what you think
Tools
Healthcare Republic Forums
Hottest Topics
Related Articles
Registrar
Women's health - Terminate pregnancies
Requests for pregnancy termination should be handled with sensitivity, writes Dr Mona Kular. Read more
Clinical skills assessment
In the first of a regular look at the nMRCGP, Dr Daryl Goodwin explains how to pass the CSA. Read more
Latest Clinical Articles
Sjogren's syndrome
Contributed by Dr Jeffery Lee, consultant rheumatologist, Barnet Hospital, Hertfordshire. Read more
Chronic kidney disease
Section 1: Epidemiology and classification Chronic kidney disease (CKD) encompasses abnor... Read more
Acute kidney injury
Contributed by Dr Stephan Brincat, specialist registrar, and Dr Rachel Hilton, consultant nephrologi... Read more
MIMS Product News
New drug - Eucreas
Eucreas (vildagliptin + metformin) is a new fixed-dose combination treatment for patients inadequate... Read more
New drug - Galvus
Novartis has launched a new oral hypoglycaemic for the treatment type II diabetes. Read more
Coversyl formulation change
Coversyl and Coversyl Plus have been discontinued and replaced by Coversyl Arginine and Coversyl Arg... Read more
Jobs
Job of the Week
- Maternity Locum GP South East England
- Salaried GP East of England
- GPs wanted for New Zealand Other International
- GP North West England
- Salaried GP East Midlands
- Partner South East England
- Replacement Full Time Partner and Full Time Salaried Doctor North West England
- Locum GPs wanted North East England
- Salaried GP East of England
- Partnership North West England
Comments
Martin Gray
29/04/2008
Oh for pity's sake! On on hand politicians talk about the importance of patient care and continuity yet on the other they come up with this hair brained scheme that will destroy it all! NHS Direct is already a problem for OOH providers where they are taking calls before re-directing them to the OOH provider. I work for the local OOH provider in West Yorkshire and the calls that we get from NHS Direct are always marked as 'urgent' to get a higher priority over patients we have not taken the calls directly from, their 'triaging' is a joke and NHS Direct should stick to doing what it was supposed to do originally, be an advice line only! I'm sure the ambulance service will have their own reservations as to how all this will work, as will A&E departments.
Rachael
29/04/2008
I agree with most of Martins comment. I work for an OOH provider as a triage nurse and since we started taking all of the calls OOH our statistics show that less 999 ambulances are called and we have less red/ urgent calls on our system passed from NHSD and patients receive timely advice/ response as required from one centre. combining the calls back with NHSD will only be a backwards step for our service- therefore lets hope we can have local diversions direct to our own service!
Alick Munro
02/05/2008
The most cost-effective person to do telephone-triage of out of hours calls is the patient's own GP. In evening hours and at weekends (other than at night) this telephone triage could be organised as an enhanced service. This would save a vast amount of inconvenience to patients and cost to the health service. It would be only moderately intrusive on leisure interests as there ould be no need to make home visits. The enhanced service could be structured as a payment for provision and an additional payment per call.
Only registered users may comment. Log in now or register for a free account.