The North West Ambulance Service has warned that excessive requests for repeat medication over the Christmas period could harm sick patients and potentially put lives at risk. The NHS 111 out-of-hours advice service has seen a significant increase in repeat prescription requests over last year’s festive period. The service received 20% more calls about routine prescriptions in December 2022 compared to the previous month – 8,139 compared with 6,794. Prescriptions are often requested because patients have run out of long-term medication and failed to arrange a new supply with their GP before Christmas.
NHS England is urging people in need of repeat prescriptions to organise them before the Christmas break. Dan Ainsworth, director of the call centre which is managed by the North West Ambulance Service, said the increase in medication requests was “avoidable” and put the service under “significant” pressure. He added that on one bank holiday last December, call handlers received more than 2,000 such requests in a single day. He said for some acutely unwell patients calling 111 “every second counts,” and that a large number of prescription requests would slow down its response to the most sick callers.
During the three-day August bank holiday weekend, 111 call handlers in the region took 1,634 such calls, compared with 879 on the same days the previous week – an 86% increase. Extra staff have been employed in the north-west’s 111 and 999 call centres to help manage demand over the winter period, but Mr. Ainsworth remains “worried” about the coming months. NWAS said the issue is a consistent problem on bank holidays throughout the year; “The longer your GPs are closed, the bigger the pressure on the one-on-one service,” Mr. Ainsworth said. Between the beginning of December 2022 and the end of February, the service received 3,000 more calls for repeat medication than it did during the months from June to August, according to NWAS’s data.
Mr Ainsworth acknowledged that some such calls to 111 are necessary, but he believed they were “avoidable in in almost every circumstance” if people planned their medication supplies. He warned that on one bank holiday, call handlers took more than 2,000 such requests in a single day, and for some “acutely unwell” patients calling 111, “every second counts.” When these prescription requests slow down the service’s response, it is a matter of concern and potentially puts lives at risk. Thus, people must organise their medication supplies before Christmas and bank holidays so that those in desperate need of care receive it as quickly as possible
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