NHS promises improvements to 111 service

NHS Improvement will help make sure patients in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall receive improved NHS 111 services from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

This follows a warning notice and inspection report being published today by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Since concerns with the quality and safety of its NHS 111 services were first raised earlier this year, the trust has been working with local commissioners and stakeholders to better manage patient safety risks.

NHS Improvement has looked into these NHS 111 services and expects the trust to carry out a set of actions, to make sure it is doing everything it can to fix the patient safety problems identified by the CQC’s inspection.

These actions are to:

• develop a plan to fix the problems identified by the CQC, and agree this plan with local commissioners;
• make these urgent improvements with the help and advice of NHS Improvement’s clinical experts;
• make sure it works with local healthcare organisations to improve services, including fixing any problems identified by individual serious patient safety incidents; and,
• carefully manage the (previously planned) transfer of NHS 111 services in Devon to another NHS provider.

Claudia Griffith, Regional Director at NHS Improvement, said: “Most patients who use NHS 111 services provided by the trust are spoken to and helped in the right way by properly trained advisors.

"But we will work with the trust to address the CQC’s concerns about whether patients using its NHS 111 services are getting consistently good quality care. We also want to help the trust reduce how long patients are waiting on the phone.

“We will support the trust’s efforts with the improvements they need to make, but for the benefit of patients we will continue to scrutinise the trust until we’re confident that the problems identified by the CQC have been addressed.”

NHS Improvement will continue to work closely with the trust to find out more about the problems it faces and ensure improvements are being made, and will take further steps if necessary for patients.