Thousands of callers to the new non emergency NHS 111 service are still not being answered, official figures have revealed, with callers hanging up before getting advice, and indications that more than a million calls a year could be missed if current trends continue.

Currently being trialled in selected areas NHS 111 is set to replace the NHS Direct phone service, with ministerial commitment to roll-out the new non-emergency health number across England by the early months of 2013.

But the latest performance figures from the Department of Health showed that more than 1 in 10 calls went unanswered during November 2011 across six test sites in County Durham and Darlington, Lincolnshire, Luton, Nottingham City, Isle of Wight and Derbyshire.

In total 11 per cent of the 43,749 calls received did not get answered. Scaled up, the Department of Health said it expected 12.8 million calls a year to NHS 111 across England. This could mean 1.4 million unanswered calls if current levels continued.

Figures did reveal that 10.5 per cent of callers abandoned their call within 30 seconds of the introductory message and that 0.5 per cent hung up after waiting for longer periods.

But reports over missed calls to the NHS 111 service have appeared before. In November it emerged that a similar proportion of calls to the service went unanswered during September 2011, when 12 per cent of callers did not speak to an adviser.

Ministers have placed high hopes on the potential of NHS 111 to allow continual access. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said last year that NHS 111 would be available throughout England by 2013. And David Cameron has said the service will “make sure callers can access the care and advice that is right for them, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year”.  (www.publicservice.co.uk)