NHS 24: A complete makeover

The medical director of the service NHS 24 has said that there has been a complete makeover and various reforms have been incorporated in the working of the system. This was done after the death two patients who did not receive timely help from the NHS 24 service.

The death of a 17-year-old schoolgirl Shomi Miah and 30-year-old joiner Steven Wiseman has spoilt the reputation of the NHS 24 help line service. They both had called the help line but due to the delays in offering the help they had succumbed to death.

This had gone to the court and the submissions were expected to be done on a later date.

The relatives feel that the main cause of the death is due to the delays in receiving treatment through the out of hours NHS 24 help line.

Shomi, studying in the sixth year at Aberdeen's Harlaw Academy died from meningitis in hospital. She had called the help line and was told that it would take a few hours for a doctor to visit the place and hence was asked to visit an out-of-hours medical center - despite being in pain, unable to get out of bed.

Mr. Wiseman who is a father-of-two, died of septic shock after he received the information from the NHS 24 that he was suffering of symptoms similar to bird flu. He was asked to take painkillers but later died.

But Dr Robson, 40, said that various reforms have been done to the NHS 24 service.

He said that the nurse are trained well to give proper advice and are specifically trained to recognize the signs of meningitis. The service has also sought other measures to assess the caller’s pain levels.

In the complaint section also they had put in a lot of effort in improvisation and complaints procedures have been tightened up. Mr. Robson said NHS 24 in association with the Meningitis Trust and the Meningitis Research Foundation is trying to learn more and help the people suffering from Meningitis.

But they are all waiting for the court ruling, which will be given on March 15.