Experiences of urgent medical care in Shropshire, Telford & the Wrekin

Healthwatch Shropshire and Healthwatch Telford and the Wrekin undertook research about people’s experiences of urgent medical care in late 2021. They heard from 181 people.

48% of 181 respondents said they contacted NHS 111 first when they had an urgent medical need (46% in Shropshire and 51% in Telford & Wrekin) this compares with 59% in the same survey carried out in Shropshire in Spring 2021.

43% of patients who contacted NHS 111 rated their experience as ‘Very Good’ or ‘Good’. Nearly one third of people rated their experience as ‘very poor’.

Of the 43 people who rated their experience of contacting NHS 111 as ‘Poor’ or ‘Very Poor’ 32 provided further details. The two issues most frequently raised were:  calls to NHS 111 not being answered in a timely manner and waits for a call back from the service, e.g. up to 16 hours.

Twenty-four of the people who contacted NHS 111 First (26%) were booked into appointments with other services. Of these 58% of people told us that they would rate their experience of booking an appointment through NHS 111 as ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’, 25% described it as ‘Poor’ or ‘Very Poor’. • Only 17% were seen more quickly than they expected to be. Ten people gave further details about their experience of the booking process, most described their frustration that the booking system did not affect the time they spent in the Urgent Treatment Centre or Emergency Department triage and treatment process.

Twenty-seven of the 34 people who contacted NHS 111 on behalf of somebody they cared for (79%) reported that they were able to discuss the patient’s needs with the NHS 111 health advisor. Of the seven who reported they weren’t able to discuss the patient’s needs, five reported that it was because the call was not answered in a timely manner.

Overall, 52% of all people (93) were not aware that NHS 111 First could book appointments with services such as GP, A&E and Urgent Treatment Centres, 38% (68) that they were aware and 10% (17) were not sure. These proportions were very similar to those indicated in the spring 2021 survey, 55% were not aware, 35% were aware and 10% were unsure.

Overall, 95 (53%) of people were ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ to contact NHS 111 the next time they were seeking urgent medical care, this compares to a figure of 71% in the spring Shropshire survey.

Overall, 91 (52%) rated their treatment as ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’, compared to 78% in the spring, 22 (13%) as ‘Average’, compared to 7% in the spring and 59 (34%) as ‘Poor’ or ‘Very Poor’, compared to 12% in the spring. Four people (2%) were ‘unsure’.