‘It’s shocking’: senior nurse tells of acute pressure on NHS 111

NHS 111 call centres are staffed by a combination of call handlers and clinicians. Photograph: James Drew Turner/The Guardian

The NHS cannot cope with the growing need for care, long delays for treatment are now routine and the staffing crisis is so acute that retired doctors are now being asked to come back and work in hospitals.

Here, a senior nurse describes how the NHS 111 telephone advice service – an important source of urgent medical advice and way of taking the pressure off A&E – is increasingly unable to help those who ring seeking help and voices her fears that patients with serious conditions may be suffering avoidable harm as a result.