Major change to emergency care could see Brits sent to pharmacies when dialling 999

PATIENTS who dial 999 could soon be sent to a pharmacist or family doctor instead of to the hospital.

NHS England is testing a new system where people looking for an ambulance could be referred elsewhere if their condition is not life-threatening.

1

Category two calls – including heart attack and stroke – or below may be made under the system.

Around 40 percent of those lower-priority calls are now returned by a nurse, paramedic or doctor to see if an ambulance is really needed.

In previous studies in London and the West Midlands, around half of callers were sent to an emergency clinic, GP or pharmacist instead of the hospital.

It has prompted NHS bosses to invite the eight other ambulance trusts in England to try the system too, in a bid to ease the workload on troubled services.

Patients have had to wait more than 24 hours in some cases as services have struggled with high demand, wintry conditions and staff sickness.

In separate emergency department crises, ambulances with patients behind them have had to wait for hours outside hospitals, unable to return to the streets.

Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England National Clinical Director for Emergency Care, said: “This new system will allow for a conversation between a nurse and a paramedic or a doctor and the patient.

“Together they can decide if an ambulance is the best response or if an ambulance is not needed and they would be better cared for in a different setting.

“It’s really important for people to know that this doesn’t mean anyone loses their place in the queue (while being judged).

“It provides more personalized care to a patient, but also allows us to free up resources for our most vulnerable patients, patients who have suffered strokes and heart attacks.”

NHS England expects emergency services to transition to the new system over the next few weeks, which will continue to be reviewed for the first few months.

It comes as ambulance workers in England continue industrial action in a long-running dispute over pay and staffing, with no sign of a breakthrough in the increasingly bitter row.

About 15,000 Unison members in five areas walked last Friday, and officials warned of an escalation of measures in the coming weeks unless the lockdown is lifted.

Later on Friday, Unite said more than 1,000 ambulance workers across the South Central, South East Coast and Yorkshire had voted to take part in the NHS strikes.

The frontline workers will join around 2,800 colleagues across the West Midlands, East Midlands, North West, North East and Wales who are already striking over pay.