to be concerned at the Govt scrapping NHS direct for a cheaper alternative with fewer nurses?

[Desperatelyseekinginspiration]

Just read this www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11120853

Now I know complain about NHSDirect but I found them extremely helpful when dd was a baby. I won't go into it but we needed to call them a lot as she was quite sickly and the fact that I was speaking to a nurse gave me a lot of confidence in the advice given. Just don't see how it will be the same without as many nurses. Won't it become pointless?

Interested to know how other mumsnetters feel about this.

I always thought they were pretty crap
asked loads of questions and then suggested you make a gp appointment
can see that it was a waste of money

Hmm difficult I think it's the start of privatisation, I mean most OOH are now mainly co-ordinated by privatised companies.

Personally when I have been really concerned, enough to think it warrants out of hours advice, I have phoned the OOH not NHS direct.

I think NHS direct has its place and as such will be missed.

I personaly have not found it useful but know others have and in a scary situation ( ill child, middle of night) I am sure it's a lifeline

YANBU

I think it is long overdue. All I've ever had is someone saying, 'ooh, I can't diagnose over the phone. Go to A&E' It is nearly midnight. "are you sure?' 'yes, go to A&E'. End up in A&E waiting for three hours with teething/colicky baby. Go home. Pointless. And incredibly expensive - there are a million better ways to spend that money on healthcare.

ColdComfort. I see your point, but won't a cheaper service be even worse. Why don't they just have out of hours then instead. Everyone can ring the OOHs and the Dr can make a decision on if you need to be seen. They'd need to improive the service though.

Our OOHs service is next to the A&E. But to be honest I have found the Drs to be a mixed bag.
When dd was ill, we were sent home a few times over a 2 week period when the NHS direct nurse was insistant that we see a Dr. Our own GP was equally useless. It wasn't until about our 5th visit to OOHs that we were referred to Pediatrician. DD was operated on that same night.

I don't see why it would be worse. NHS direct was rubbish and even two years ago every call cost the nation £25 - the same or more as a visit to a real life GP! £140million a year! What an appalling waste of money.

Sometimes though our own common sense MUST tell us a visit to AE is overkill? We know deep down it's a cold/ear infection/colic.

All the nurses on NHS direct can do really is triage on the basis of a phonecall not on a TRUE clinical evaluation.

That said, it's still a lifeline. A voice in the night. A human.

There's been a thread running about this during the day.

In June the BMA called for scrapping NHS Direct (keeping only the website as is) and the professional body for all doctors in UK must know a great deal about safe and efficient delivery of services.

I'm on an iPhone and can't post a link to the other thread.

Could someone else do that, so weight of earlier opinion is available to readers of this thread.

NHS Direct are so totally crap, I can't imagine anything being any more-so! The new 111 number (or whatever it is) will undoubtedly be even more pants and do what the Government wants us to do...sort things out ourselves or be in such a dire situation that we take our partner/child/loved one to an emergency ward.

It's the start of the erosion of NHS services. The very thing the good old Tory boys said they wouldn't do (but then, they all have BUPA, so why should they care??).

NHS direct gave DH advice which if he had followed would have killed him.The idea that a nurse can diagnose someone down the phone is just very very dangerous.

OP YANBU. I would have said differently a year or so ago, when I had had several experiences where I was asked loads of questions and then just told to go to A&E.

But recently I have had some really good advice. DS had a terrible stomach bug a few months ago, and was quite dehydrated. They were SO helpful, and really put my mind at rest.

The new service will be cheaper, and will probably be worse.

I would happily do without NHS direct if the out of hours GP service was better here, or if you could ever get to speak to a GP on the phone, but you can't. Therefore I think its the best thing on offer.

NHS Direct have saved my life twice. They susspected anaphylaxis and called an ambulance. I was having a anaphylactic shock.(to a bloody chewit!)
And again when I was having a bad asthma attack. I did not want to go to hospital but they made DH phone an ambulance. It was just as well as I stopped breathing.

Thanks, herbietea!

As doctors themselves are calling for massive change, reform here is a very sensible priority (I'd be much more worried about any change which clinicians warned against). I hope all NHS reform will be in areas supported by clinicians.

i dont rate nhs direct at all. they ask you a shit load of questions then cover their arses and say - go see gp - go to casualty

only if you are not breathing or turning blue they will send an ambulance....well you would have to be some kind of thick to call nhs direct and not a fekking ambulance if someone wasn't fekking breathing

Adora' and wouldn't your out of hours GP have said that if you'd phoned them???

I actually used to work for NHS Direct, as a Health Information Adviser. I personally have always felt the service was a bit of a waste of money so it doesn't really surprise me that this has been mooted. Saying that, something like 82% of calls were from parents of small children so from a mumsnet point of view this is probably bad news. I can see it was a reassuring service for many anxious parents, but (as has been pointed out) generally the OOH GP service (which quite often is triaged by NHSD anyway) tends to be more effective.

probaly but I called nhs direct to find out if our walk in unit had a neb. Then things got worse very quickly, I couldnt talk so DH took over the call. The next thing I knew I was in hospital.

I have only ever called them for advice about the Kids. All they have EVER said to me is 'Go to A&E'. A& E have always rolled their eyeballs with an implied "FFS..." when I have said we were sent here by NHS direct.

Once they gave totally wrong advice. ((DH1 had drunk a bottle of calpol. "I didn't spill any Mummy!"...and yes I had the HV on the phone the next day "It should be locked up" I know, I know, I didn't think he could climb that high!!!)) I asked NHS direct whether I should make him sick? and they said "no - you should never induce a child to vomit - go to A&E." The first thing A&E asked was "...have you make him sick?" They were amazed that NHS Direct had instructed against this. It wasn't car battery acid or anything - just calpol.

No loss as far as I am concerned! Might help if you are older and calling for yourself, I suppose.

Oh, and although people assume that they're speaking to a nurse at NHSD, they're usually not. The initial triage is done by a health adviser and then passed on to either a nurse or an ambulance with a timescale for a call back depending on severity of symptoms.

Frank Dobson whining that trained nurses will be replaced by call centre staff is a bit ironic as that's exactly what the current system is.

I think NHS direct a waste of time myself...they tell everyone to go to hospital so they don't get sued!!

petition here for anyone that's interested

Brassband, if it's not indelicate to ask, what did NHSDirect tell dh to do that was so dangerous?