A THURROCK councillor who was initially a critic of a new NHS telephone helpline has admitted he got it wrong.

In November Cllr Shane Ralph, who chairs Thurrock Council's Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee launched an attack on the 111 call service, saying he felt it would cost lives.

He encapsulated his fears by saying: "I have grave concerns over the new 111 A&E call first for an appointment system that is starting in December. I fear this will see many people not attending A&E who have life-threatening symptoms.

"We all know someone who puts off going to the doctors and try to live with it. Often they are the ones who just pop into A&E on their way home from work only to find they have actually had a heart attack or a stroke."

However, a meeting of the committee has now heard that the 11 call-line and the advice to make use of it before visiting hospital has helped "reduced crowdedness in A&E."

The new scheme, branded Think NHS 111 First was launched by the Mid and South Essex Hospital Trust on December 1. The idea behind the programme is if a patient is feeling unwell and wants to go to A&E, they should call NHS 111 first – if the problem is not fatal. Patients will then be assessed over the phone and told if they need to attend hospital.

If patients do need to go to A&E, they would be booked a time slot and, alternatively, there is the ability to have an appointment booked at your GP surgery.

At last week's committee meeting Mark Tebbs, NHS Alliance Director for Thurrock said: "Since it has gone live, we are averaging 57 patients going through the process and we haven't had any complaints.

"The pathway is working well, and it is reducing the waiting times and the crowdedness of A&E which is critical at this moment in time."

Cllr Ralph was forced to concede he has made a misjudgement, saying: "I was worried when it was rolled out, mainly because there have been 5,000 extra heart attack deaths during Covid-19. However, in hindsight now I think it was a good decision to do this, it has probably taken so much weight of A&E."

At the meeting Chadwell St Mary Cllr Sara Muldowney said: "I've had some good feedback about the programme from residents. It seems like a no-brainer to have a triage system at a time when our A&E departments are getting over run and at a time when we are trying to do infection control during Covid-19."