Report that NHS helpline 111 is failing

Posted 26/01/2016 By: Sharon Allison

An NHS England report has confirmed that the NHS non-emergency helpline ‘111’ is failing to identify when babies and small children require immediate treatment. The report was commissioned in the wake of the death of William Mead, 12 months old, who died of Sepsis following a Chest Infection. The report concluded that William might have lived had they realised the seriousness of the condition. William’s mother contacted the ‘111’ helpline for advice but was reassured that it was nothing serious. The report concluded that if a medic rather than an adviser using a computer system had taken the call, they probably would have realised that William’s cries were of distress meaning that he needed urgent medical attention.

The report has gone on to identify that a number of opportunities were missed to save William’s life such as the GP not recording all of the relevant information in the notes, a lack of detailed advice as to what the parents should do if is condition worsened over the weekend, no access for the out of hours GP service to Edward’s primary care records and the pathway tool used by the helpline staff was too ‘crude’ to pick red flag warning signs indicating sepsis.

Sharon Allison, a Medical Injury Lawyer at Ashtons Legal says: “This is such a tragedy for William’s family, made even harder in the knowledge that he probably could have been saved if he had received the right care. It is reassuring that an independent report has been conducted into this tragedy and has highlighted the dangers which must now be addressed, however such investigations do not happen as a matter of course and often families are left with no alternative but to seek answers through the Court system.

“What is very concerning is that if the Government goes ahead with its proposals to introduce fixed costs in clinical negligence cases later this year, many bereaved families like the family of William Mead will be left without an recourse to justice but more importantly to shape patient safety for the benefit of others. The death of a loved one has very little value in law but there is no greater price to pay. We must look for every opportunity to safeguard patient safety in our NHS so that the lessons learned in William Mead case won’t be repeated.”