Health Minister halts scrapping of Trust's Phone First service
The Northern Trusts had been poised to stop triage line later this month
HEALTH Minister Robbie Butler has instructed health chiefs - including the Northern Trust - that have not yet scrapped the ‘Phone First’ service to pause plans to axe the service in the coming weeks.
Phone First refers to a specialist triage line introduced in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, aimed at reducing pressures in hospital emergency departments.
It does so by providing advice on potential alternative treatments for non-life threatening conditions and injuries that require medical attention, but not necessarily a trip to already congested hospital waiting rooms.
Originally trialled at the Causeway Hospital before being gradually rolled out across Northern Ireland, nationwide statistics have revealed a rising trend in usage.
Health Committee Chair and North Antrim MLA Philip McGuigan highlighted last month that a record 18,263 calls had been received in September, 12,098 (66%) of which consequently led to patients being referred to emergency departments.
He pointed out that, contrary to a previous suggestion made to the Stormont Health Committee that drew the efficacy of the Phone First system into doubt, over 6,000 unnecessary visits had been prevented.
In light of this observation, McGuigan secured the support of the committee to write to the Department of Health to ask about the future of Phone First- leading directly to the Health Minister pulling the brakes on the original plan of putting Phone First out to pasture.
The halt comes too late for the Belfast Trust, which has already transitioned away from usage of the service - this despite the line having received its highest ever volume of calls in the same month of its demise.
“It's frustrating, it's not something that we wanted to do,” said Claire Corry, the Belfast Trust’s Director of Finance, “but we felt that it was the least worst option.”
Her boss, Chief Executive Jennifer Welsh, explained the projected £800m shortfall in Northern Ireland's health budget meant all trusts had been instructed to find savings that ‘could be delivered without causing harm to service users’.
The Northern Trust had been poised to follow suit as early as November 27 in one of a series of proposed cost-cutting measures.
Meanwhile, the staff responsible for manning the Belfast wing of the Phone First service have been redeployed to other urgent care sectors within the Trust.
Operating the Phone First service costs the Northern Trust £500,000 annually. The Trust has been tasked with finding an overall £53.8m in savings for this year. Accordingly, the Interim Chief Executive, Suzanne Pullins, has noted there ‘are no easy choices’ to be made in achieving this goal.
However, appearing before the Health Committee to answer questions on the Trust’s savings plans, Ms Pullins confirmed they have now been instructed to ‘pause the formal withdrawal to allow for reassessment.’
This 11th hour reversal was confirmed by the Department of Health, who clarified that health trusts yet to retire the system will be working in tandem with external providers to secure an extension to the Phone First service - for the time being at least.
The drafted plan to suspend the service was, as the Interim Chief Executive pointed out, ‘in no way a reflection’ of a service she stressed was ‘very valued.’
Her comments last Thursday strove to address concerns broached last month by members of the Health Committee who felt the prospect of cutting Phone First to be unwise at a juncture where emergency departments are bracing for the expected heightened pressures that emerge with the onset of winter.