Investigation
SUICIDE BOTCH
NHS 111 helpline workers leave suicidal patients on hold and take naps at their desks while their bosses play cards
Toilets at the call centre was also found to have traces of cocaine
NHS 111 workers slept at their desks while their managers played cards, a Sun investigation revealed.
Desperate callers considering taking their own lives were also fobbed off as being “needy” by staff meant to help them.
One call handler said it was common practice to put the suicidal on hold, adding: “After a while you can’t talk to them no more, it just gets awkward.”
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Our undercover investigation also revealed how:
- TOILETS at the call centre where our reporter worked revealed traces of cocaine;
- TRAINERS told workers to lie to callers when they were struggling to use the computer system;
- MANAGERS altered time sheets on training so our undercover reporter could start taking calls unaided.
The Department of Health last night launched an “urgent investigation” after it was alerted to our shock findings.
Following a tip-off from a whistle-blower, our man got a job at the NHS 111 call centre in St Charles Hospital in Ladbroke Grove, West London.
Non-medically trained staff paid around £19,000 a year provide 24-hour support for 11 boroughs in North, West, and central London.
They take non-emergency calls and direct people to the best medical care.
Training manuals clearly state callers should never be put on hold if deemed unstable or suicidal.
But we saw two handlers repeatedly “mute” a suicidal woman before she eventually hung up.
A colleague said: “She’s disconnected, and may be dead.”
One moaned suicidal callers are “a bit needy and want to talk”.
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They said: “What can you say to them? They make it seem in training like you should be like, ‘So what’s your favourite colour’?”
She said of another caller: “She was crying and I was asking her stuff like, ‘Do you not really want to talk?’ She was like ‘no’. I put her on mute.”
Another night shift saw almost half call handlers on duty asleep at desks, while managers played blackjack.
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A 26-year-old worker said: “I kept nodding off but it’s really chilled at night.”
Staff were also seen browsing their smartphones and sending text messages during calls with troubled patients.
One email was sent round to staff after a worker came in drunk. Bosses vowed to be “supportive” if staff declare a drug or alcohol problem and work to “manage the impact”.
But the message did not appear to have got through to some as a check of the toilets revealed traces of cocaine.
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Managers signing time sheets also added in extra training hours which our reporter did not have just so he could take calls unaided.
Workers were even told by a senior trainer to lie to callers and say they were experiencing technical failures if they were struggling to use the computer system.
Repeated technical problems saw a handler hang up on at least three patients, including one with heart palpitations.
The centre is run by private firm London Central and West Unscheduled Care Collaborative, which claims its “high quality” care is “timely, consistent, safe and seamless”.
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Dr Simon Douglass, its medical director, said last night: “We take any allegations extremely seriously and have launched an urgent investigation.
“All issues relating to staff conduct are extremely important to us, particularly in relation to patient safety.”
The Department of Health said: “The NHS is urgently investigating and if any wrongdoing whatsoever is found, including criminal actions, we will want to see the police and relevant NHS regulators alerted.”
Mental health campaigners said call handlers who placed the suicidal on hold were endangering lives.
Marjorie Wallace, of mental health charity SANE, said: “It is worrying callers reporting mental illness should be downgraded in this way.
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“Attitudes like this could put lives at risk.”
Former health minister Norman Lamb MP said: “We are talking about life and death situations and people who are desperate and who have chosen to seek help. To let them down in that way is horrifying.”
Sophie Corlett, of mental health charity Mind, said: “It should be a basic requirement of all NHS 111 services that staff are well trained and offer a human and caring response to people in need.
“We lose 6,000 people a year to suicide.”
SERVICE HAS BEEN BESET BY PROBLEMS
BY MARTIN PHILLIPS
THE NHS’s 111 hotline has been beset with problems since it was launched in August 2010 to replace NHS Direct.
It began with several pilot schemes around the country before a planned national roll-out in April 2013.
The service handles more than 10million calls a year — but in November 2011, it was reported that one in eight calls went unanswered.
In March 2013 it was revealed that more than 29,000 people had hung up after waiting more than 30 seconds for an answer.
By April 2013, when it was due to go nationwide, lines in some areas were not ready to go live.
A month later, medical chiefs said patients had already lost faith in 111. One GP called it an “omnishambles”.
And a probe was launched after several serious incidents, including three deaths, were linked to the service.
A Channel 4 Dispatches investigation in July 2013 found staff shortages, long waits for calls to be answered and ambulances being sent unnecessarily.
In December 2014, one-year-old William Mead died from sepsis after staff working from a script failed to recognise the signs of the blood infection.
A report in June 2015 found that some patients calling 111 were being denied ambulances even if they had symptoms of a heart attack.
By September 2015, whistleblowers said 111 was understaffed, missing monthly targets and in meltdown.
In February last year, a top paediatrician questioned the safety of 111 when it concerned children.
Union Unison said a service that is “poorly understood, poorly commissioned, poorly funded will always fail”.
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