27E. NHS Direct and 111
Tees Valley Branch
(R) That this meeting of the RCN Congress asks Council to call on the Department of Health to urgently reconsider the replacement of NHS Direct with 111
Result
The resolution was passed.
For: 98.36% (359)
Against: 1.64% (6)
Abstain: (24)
Debate report
Sue Stockdale, Tees Valley branch, proposed this emergency agenda item focussing on the move from NHS Direct to the new 111 number. She described how the plans to abolish the service were announced without public consultation or debate in parliament (due to summer recess), on August bank holiday – accusing the Government of “sneaking out” the news.
She quoted the Government’s rational for change as the 111 being a more memorable number and it being free to call, but said they neglected to mention the change of skill set from registered nurses to call centre operators with no clinical expertise or training.
She also disputed the Health Secretary’s assertion at Congress that staff would be transferred to the new service, saying that in the North East service providers were already advertising non-Agenda for Change posts before NHS Direct staff had even finished their contracts. Consequently the NHS will be left to pick up the redundancy tab, she claimed.
Seconding the item, Annie Cooper, Mid Yorkshire branch, said that non-clinicians directing patients to what they perceive to be the correct service will add to an increase in the number of people accessing the wrong assistance. She quoted research from the University of Sheffield which evidenced how this is already happening in pilot areas for the 111 number. She also called into question how call handlers would be regulated and what the cost to the quality of service would be.
York Branch member Gwen Vartigans agreed with the Government that 111 was a more memorable number, but said that is where the similarity stops. She talked about the huge investment that was made in NHS Direct and how that has been repaid tenfold, but now we are at risk of losing everything that has been achieved. She described losing nursing expertise as a “nonsense”.
NHS Direct employee Fiona Taylor, told Congress how her role brought her a great sense of job satisfaction, allowing her to be the nurse she wanted to be.
Susan Panther, Mid Yorkshire Branch said that her concern was for patients and the services they would lose through the switch over of numbers, citing dentistry and medicines advice as particular areas of concern.
Congress overwhelmingly agreed that NHS Direct provided a high-quality service and that losing the skills of nurses in the service would be a step backward in providing good care and peace of mind to patients.
The agenda item was passed.
