Shropshire non-emergency medical advice calls diverted

Problems with a new non-emergency NHS telephone advice line have prompted Shropshire health chiefs to divert calls back to a local service.

NHS 111 was recently given a soft launch in a number of areas across the UK, including the West Midlands.

But some of the pilot regions have been unable to cope with call volumes or have suffered catastrophic IT failures.

Calls will be put through to Shropdoc out-of-hours service on a temporary basis in Shropshire.

'Reviewing systems'

The chair of Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Mike Innes, said: "We are sorry if any patients have experienced any delays in accessing NHS 111.

"We are expecting a busy weekend, and are encouraging patients to think if they really need urgent medical advice."

The regional project director for NHS 111 in the West Midlands, Wayne Bartlett, said: "We have encountered some operational and technical issues which we have immediately responded to, to ensure we deliver a safe service for patients.

"We are continuing to monitor the service with our management teams and are reviewing the systems and processes immediately a problem occurs. "