Saturday 27 - Monday 29 July

Managers of the 111 non-emergency phone line have said the service is unsafe for patients at weekends due to a lack of staff, according to an undercover television investigation. Channel 4's Dispatches programme, NHS Undercover, found the non-emergency 111 system had staff shortages, long waits for callers and in some cases ambulances were being called out unnecessarily. Two reporters posing as trainee call handlers secretly filmed at centres run by private health care company Harmoni, which has a third of the hotline contracts in England. Dispatches said the footage shot at the branches in Dorking in Surrey and Bristol reveals serious failings in the system.
Source: Royal College of Nursing News Alert - Category: Nursing Source Type: news