A THIRD of callers to NHS 111 must be offered a GP appointment under a new NHS England diktat.

Call handlers for the NHS non-emergency telephone line will be able to book the appointments – which could also be with a pharmacist, practice nurse or at the walk-in centre – directly.

The changes, which are part of a series of improvements that must come in by 2019, are expected to cost Swindon NHS chiefs an extra £250,000 a year.

But a Swindon GP has branded the plans a complete nightmare.

NHS England is understood to have written to all clinical commissioning groups earlier this year, issuing new instructions about the NHS 111 service.

The non-emergency number, which replaced NHS Direct in 2014, is staffed by advisers who are meant to be able to give health advice or direct people to local services, like hospital or a GP.

NHS bosses hope to make it easier for people to access urgent healthcare advice through the 111 service, with more clinicians able to triage calls and call handlers able to book appointments with urgent care services.

By 2019, it is expected that 30 per cent of NHS 111 callers should be given the option of having a GP or other urgent care appointment booked for them.

Thomas Kearney, the associate director for urgent care at Swindon CCG, said: “For patients who call 111 and are assessed by a clinician – and not just by a call handler – as needing an appointment at their GP practice it makes sense to be able to book that directly.

“There is no intention that all GP appointments will be booked through NHS 111. Anyone needing a primary care appointment after advice and clinical triage from NHS 111 could be seamlessly guided and booked appropriately to a primary care service.

“This may not be a GP, it might be a pharmacist, a locally commissioned service such as the Children’s Clinic, the Walk-in Centre or a practice nurse.”

The plans are expected to cost Swindon CCG an extra £250,000 a year by 2019. Currently, they spend about £500,000 on the NHS 111 service.

But Toothill GP Dr Peter Swinyard, the chairman of the Family Doctor Association, said: “It’s a complete nightmare. We all run our own booking systems.

“If all our appointments get taken by 111, we have nothing to offer people who ring up on the day.

“(Health Secretary) Jeremy Hunt seems to think that more access is a good access. It isn’t. It needs to be appropriate.”

Dr Nigel Watson, the chief executive of Wessex LMCs, which represents Swindon GP practices, told doctors’ magazine Pulse that GPs were wary about allowing appointments to direct booking by 111.

“We’re short of appointments now and struggle to meet the demands,” he said.

A spokesman for NHS England said: “The ability of a 111 GP, nurse or paramedic to accurately assess whether a person needs a practice appointment is likely to compare well with the alternative of an equivalent judgement having to be made by a practice receptionist.”