RCN supports members at NHS Direct

Published: 26 June 2012

Nurses working for NHS Direct, the national health information and advice service which has one of its call centres in Beckenham , south east London, are facing major uncertainties over their futures.

Huge upheavals in the popular NHS Direct service are directly affecting RCN members at the Beckenham call centre . After strong representations from the RCN and other unions the government has agreed to delay implementation of a new 111 service from April 2013 to October 2013.

111 is the proposed alternative to calling 999 for severe but not life-threatening  emergencies. NHS Direct has been bidding for this work but in many cases is losing out to ambulance call centres, out of hours services or private bidders. As part of the handover, government guidelines say that staff on NHS contracts in former NHS Direct sites should be TUPE’d over to their new employers. The RCN is concerned that 111 will reduce the ratio of qualified nurses to call handlers.

The transition to 111 has been far from smooth. A number of private companies initially interested in making bids are now withdrawing, stating that the service cannot be economically viable. At present it looks like there will be 50 111 services provided by a combination of 60 different providers. NHS Direct has won only a fraction of the contracts so far contested.

Consultations on the future of NHS Direct staff are likely to happen in early autumn.