Thursday 12th June 2014 – 2pm – Jamie Arrowsmith.
Seven months to the day since stepping in as providers of the NHS 111 (West Midlands) service, West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) received its 500,000th call on Wednesday.
WMAS has been running 111 since November 11, 2013, after previous providers NHS Direct decided to step out of their contract. A lot of hard work has been carried out since then to improve it; including revamping the training programme and making changes to the way the call centre operates.
NHS 111 providers have a number of key targets they are measured against, including the number of calls answered within 60 seconds and the number of calls that are abandoned by the caller.
Across the 500,000 calls, WMAS has answered 96.8 per cent within 60 seconds against a national target of 95 per cent, whilst just 0.4 per cent have been abandoned, against a national target of achieving less than five per cent.
NHS 111 (West Midlands) Director Daren Fradgley said: “Landmarks such as this provide us with a chance to reflect on how far we have come since taking over the 111 service and there are a lot of good things to look back on.
“We initially managed to stabilise the service in a short space of time ahead of the busy Christmas period and our performance levels have remained high ever since.
“A lot of people have put in a lot of hard work to help restore the public’s faith in the service, for which I am extremely grateful.
“As we look ahead to the next 500,000 calls we will strive to continue making improvements and providing the best service possible for patients.”
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