英伦广角 2013-08-03 NHS结束111热线电话服务合约

 In theory telephone triage was a good idea, in practice at times it was anything but. -Realistically on the weekends we still are unsafe, we don't have the staff to deal with the calls that are coming in.

 

This investigation¹ by two undercover reporters in Bristol and Dorking highlighted everything that was going wrong at  NHS 111.

 

-I remember once we sent out an ambulance for a cat scratch.

 

This medical center in southeast London has 20,000 patients.The service lasted just a couple of days here in March before buckling².

 

-They couldn't manage the volume of the calls, the time to answer. calls were long. The process that patients have to go through till they get an answer from the system is very protracted³. A lot of patients gave up before they even got to that stage. The commissioners⁴ of the service locally realized the service was potentially dangerous and pulledit very quickly.

 

It's emerged that officially evaluation⁵ of the NHS pilot scheme had not been published before the contracts were signed. NHS Direct base the entire operation on pilots where they expected to earn 13 pounds a call. In fact they brought in between 7 and 9 pounds a call, leaving a huge shortfall. In addition each call took twice as long as expected. Critics argue that replacing nurses with computers was destined⁶ to end badly.

 

-It has all got too complicated, and I think the simple thing is to go back the system that was nurse-led. Under NHS Direct nurses used to handle around 60-70% of the calls. That's gonna write down to about 20% and in the end you get what you paid for. And that's basically the service we’ve got at the moment. 

 

Some still believe that while far from perfect, the system has a future.

 

-People need to understand that we are not complacent⁷ about this, this was a real issue and things are much improved but we can do better and we will do better, and we will be continuously looking at ways that we can improve this service.

 

-Do you think I should chat to a clinician or just do it? 

 

-We haven't got the clinicians to spare.

 

The immediate⁸ challenge now is to find someone to take on the contracts NHS Direct is pulling out of. Restoring confidence may prove even harder.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 buckling   

扣住

参考例句：

• A door slammed in the house and a man came out buckling his belt. 房子里的一扇门砰地关上，一个男子边扣腰带边走了出来。
• The periodic buckling leaves the fibre in a waved conformation. 周期性的弯折在纤维中造成波形构成。

3 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

5 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

6 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

7 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。