NHS Direct and 111

[Workingman]

NHS Direct wants to pull out of its contract to all eleven of the 111 contracts it won, due to the mess the service is in. It says now that the contracts are also not financially viable.

I bet they aren't!!!

Direct used to be paid over £20 per call on the old 0845 system - £20 of OURS! I bet not many of us knew that! Who negotiated that? Who signed it off?

Now, on the 111 system, the providers only get £7 to £9. Well, I mean, that's awful.

"Johnny fell and grazed his knee, what should I do?"
"Wash it, put germolene on and cover with a plaster."

That'll be £9 please.

Poor old NHS, caught between government waste and excessive charges, no wonder it's strapped for cash.

[KateLMead]

The whole NHS is a diabolical scandal. To think Nichols still holds his position is beyond belief, his replies when questioned were stating what he was told to say, he knew too much and too many people at the top were also responsible for the shocking shambles of Pathway and the neglect of patients and those mammoth numbers of unnecessary deaths.
A friends husband sliced through his leg with an axe yesterday afternoon he was operated on a 10 p.m. last night. Home today for his own safety!!!
Again in hospitals regarding infections and unnecessary deaths we have had cover up after cover up.
The first info about the neglect and filth in hospitals was revealed around four to five years ago when a Sussex hospital was exposed, and the responsible woman Rose somebody or other threatened whistle blowers if they opened their mouths. When they did She was exposed and forced to resign with a healthy package and pension, and believe it or not along with her husband who was also involved in the NHS they opened a business relating to how to run a hospital successfully... approved of by the NHS..
As for numbers no mention of the hundreds and thousands of foreigners using our hospitals, the births, illnesses, surgery.. All problems are blamed on the elderly and infirm

[cromwell]

NHS Direct wants to pull out of its contract to all eleven of the 111 contracts it won, due to the mess the service is in. It says now that the contracts are also not financially viable.

I bet they aren't!!!

Direct used to be paid over £20 per call on the old 0845 system - £20 of OURS! I bet not many of us knew that! Who negotiated that? Who signed it off?

Someone in the last Labour government, at a guess?
Politicians are always searching for a "magic bullet" solution to problems. The solution seems usually to involve some form of technology with the addition of a shedload of money being thrown hopefully at the solution providers.
And in 99% of cases, this approach fails.

[Workingman]

I am pretty sure that NHS Direct was a good idea and a good service, but like everything else "for free" it was handled badly.

It was generating over 6 million calls annually, with the website getting 18 million hits. NHS Direct admits that the vast majority of those calls/hits were for minor ailments where the best advice was for self-medication at home. Most of the calls were of the "Johnny grazed his knee" type, and the whole scheme became a costly "nurse maid".

Had the pilots been monitored effectively that would have been discovered. They obviously were not and the whole thing became too costly for the NHS to continue to fund, hence the roll-out of the cheaper 111.

[cromwell]

It was generating over 6 million calls annually, with the website getting 18 million hits. NHS Direct admits that the vast majority of those calls/hits were for minor ailments where the best advice was for self-medication at home. Most of the calls were of the "Johnny grazed his knee" type

How many idiots have been bred in this country over the last few decades?