NHS 24 “still cannot cope” with demand, Scottish Labour warned as figures showed nearly one in four calls has gone unanswered. The out-of-hours advice and triage service operates the 111 non-emergency number.
A freedom of information request from the party shows, of the 785,456 calls made to NHS 24 in the past five months, 180,940 (23 per cent) were abandoned. The unanswered call rate was more than a quarter in March (27.5 per cent) and June (27 per cent).
The average waiting time to contact the service was just over 22 minutes in June – up nearly five minutes on January’s 17.5 minutes. That is despite the launch of an NHS 24 call centre in Dundee – announced in January as a move to “help facilitate the increase in demand for the NHS 24 service”.
Scottish Labour’s public health spokesman Paul O’Kane said: “It’s clear NHS 24 still cannot cope with the crisis engulfing our NHS. The extra investment in NHS 24 was welcome but sticking plasters won’t do the trick as long as the SNP keeps letting our NHS fall deeper into chaos.”
Janice Houston, NHS 24 director of service delivery, said there was “continued high demand”. She added: “Our automated messaging system gives callers options of alternative routes to care, will advise how long the wait is and an option to call later if not urgent. This clear signposting means people may choose to end their call.
“Our colleagues work tirelessly, with a commitment to deliver safe, effective services 24/7, and answer every call as quickly as possible.”
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