THE introduction of a misfiring new NHS 111 phoneline could place even greater pressures on Worcester’s already burdened accident and emergency department.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital, is building contingency for a possible seven per cent increase in A&E attendances into its 2013/14 annual plan as a result of the new 111 system which is being introduced nationwide as a replacement for NHS Direct.

But Stewart Messer, the trust’s chief operating officer, said that was very much a worst case scenario based on experience from other areas where 111 has already been introduced.

In Worcestershire, the 111 phonelines have been active since last week, initially only taking over the out-of-hours phone service.

But the system got off to a troubled start with reports of patients facing long waits for what should be instant medical advice and service bosses advising them to contact their GP surgeries until the issues have been resolved.

But Mr Messer said the 111 service did not seem to have had any impact on A&E attendance levels so far.

“We have not seen a particular rise. There are a number of speculative estimates as to how much impact it will have on A&E departments, but our commissioners estimate this will just be an introductory effect and it will then reduce back to normal levels.”

He said he did not believe A&E departments at either Worcester or the Alexandra Hospital, Redditch, would be unduly effected even if an increase does occur.

“They are actually quite small numbers being talked about. If we do see a 7.3 per cent increase, that equates to about 12 additional attendances a day at Worcester, from which we would expect about three admissions.

“Because we are in the middle of winter we have already proactively over-recruited to both medical and nursing.

“We are confident that we will be able to cope and are prepared for any impact.”

The 111 service had been due to launch in the West Midlands on Monday, but that has now been postponed.

There have been reports of similar problems with the service in other parts of the country. Dr Laurence Buck-man, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, has written to NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson warning that the service is putting additional strain on already stret-ched health services.