NHS24 faces radical overhaul
NHS24 must find ways to reduce the use of “call-back”, according to an independent review of the service published last week.
The report concludes that a radical overhaul of the way in which NHS24 –—Scotland’s
equivalent of NHS Direct –— contributes to unscheduled care
is needed. It gives two reasons for this: first, the role of NHS24 has
changed dramatically since its original blueprint was written in 2001
and, second, some of the operational procedures in place since then have
not stood up to the pressures of reality.
Call-back is by far the most problematic issue,” the report notes. “It
was not designed to be used other than as an exceptional, temporary,
planned method of dealing with low-priority calls. In fact it was soon
accepted as an integral part of the day-to-day service.” NHS24
must recognise that routine use of call-back cannot be used to compensate
for a lack of resources at peak times, the report states.
Changes to out-of-hours care provision by GPs have contributed to the
high demand. The report suggests that out-of-hours primary care services,
such as on Saturday mornings, should be improved in order to reduce demand
on NHS24 services. “It is imperative that boards develop and then
support nurses and allied health professionals who can play a very full
and important role in unscheduled primary care in the community,” it
says. |
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