CONCERNS have been raised over the future of the 24-hour NHS 111 service covering Worcestershire, which is to be taken over by a private company.

West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) has been running the free non-emergency line since November 2013, when it took over the contact from NHS Direct, which was shut down just a month after it was set up following a report which found the quality of service was “unacceptably low”.

But a bid from WMAS to continue to run the service on a temporary basis until a new full five-year contract is awarded early next year has been rejected by Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Instead the organisation, which is responsible for organising the service for the whole of the West Midlands, has been awarded to private company West Midlands Doctors Urgent Care.

Now trade union Unison has raised concerns over the future of the service under a private provider.

The union's regional organiser for the West Midlands Chanel Camilleri-Willis said: “When NHS 111 was run by WMAS the service was amongst the best performing in the country handling more than 850,000 calls a year.

“The public of the West Midlands clearly value this service and I believe would want it to remain in the hands of a public organisation which has a proven track record of delivering it.

“There is evidence from across the country that NHS 111 is a difficult and complex service to run.

“There have been a number of well documented problems including, in June this year, the failures at Oxfordshire NHS 111.

“Given these issues it is essential that Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG think carefully about their responsibilities to the people of the West Midlands and consider carefully who they award the full contract to.”

A spokesman from the CCG said the organisation was committed to ensuring NHS 111 was “strong and safe” but had been unable to agree acceptable terms with the ambulance service.

“West Midlands Doctors Urgent Care already run proven, effective NHS 111 services for more than four million people in other parts of the UK and has recently been awarded a long term contract for the delivery of NHS 111 services in Staffordshire,” he said.

“We are proud of our record in commissioning quality NHS 111 services and many of the innovations that we have introduced are now being used as best practice nationally. We continue to prioritise the interest of our patients in the services we commission.”

The ambulance service declined to comment, saying only it was “disappointed” it had been unable to agree terms of a temporary contract.

NHS 111 is available for free 24 hours a day for non-emergency health advice. Callers can speak to a trained clinician where appropriate and the service links directly to the emergency service if necessary.