Clinical advice line fails to calm patients One in ten patients diverted to a phone advice line after dialling 999 had no confidence in their call handler, regulators say. The Care Quality Commission said patients were broadly happy with a scheme meant to cut down on ambulance call-outs by helping patients to treat themselves. However, survey results suggest that tens of thousands of patients felt frustrated. Under the “hear and treat” scheme, 999 operators will give clinical advice to patients whom they deem not to need an ambulance. However, the CQC found that only half of the 300,000 annual callers were reassured that their condition was not life-threatening. The survey of 2,800 patients found that 11 per cent did not have confidence in the call handler and the same proportion said they were not reassured. The CQC also found that 8 per cent felt handlers were asking irrelevant questions, perhaps because they were reading from a script, and a further 7 per cent said they did not understand what they were being told. thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article4142381.ece
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 10:22:51 +0000