BMA has 'serious misgivings' over plans for new 111 service

A new helpline designed to cut unnecessary visits to accident & emergency departments and provide patients with “round-the-clock” access to medical advice has come in for criticism by doctors.

The new 111 service, which is free to use, is meant to be operational across all of England from April 2013.

But the British Medical Association said it has “serious misgivings” about the timeline for expanding use of the number.

In a letter to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, doctors said that failing to relax the deadline “could lead to serious unintended consequences”.

Ministers hope the new service will be the single point of contact for non-emergency care outside normal surgery hours, encompassing NHS Direct and out-of-hours services, and also enabling people to book appointments with GPs.

But Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GP committee, wrote that doctors want the roll-out “slowed down, to allow for proper evaluation of the pilots” and to allow a “flexible deadline”.

Commenting on the letter, he said: “If there isn’t a pause then the Government could end up implementing something which doesn’t work to the benefit of all patients, which could unnecessarily overburden the ambulance service and GP surgeries, reduce the quality of existing out-of-hours services and ultimately cost the taxpayer a lot of money.”

According to the Daily Telegraph, Anne Milton, the Public Health Minister, responded to the letter by saying: “The BMA supports the principles of the NHS 111 service – it will benefit patients by improving access to NHS services and ensuring they get the right care at the right time.

“We will consider the BMA's concerns. We agree that any long-term decision should be made with full approval from local commissioning groups. They should be fully engaged with the approach to delivering NHS 111.”