It might finally happen here in England. What we see in Hollywood movies when someone is involved in an accident, gets attacked/shot/killed, has what looks like a heart attack or just simply faints on the street, and suddenly the hero of the movie or even just a passer by screams "Someone call 911"! (They never say call an ambulance for some reason, do they?).
It is simple there in America, you have an emergency – whatever that is – you call one emergency number. You don't have to think for a couple of minutes whether it is truly an emergency and if you should call A&E, or is it urgent but not a question of life or death in which case should you should call a GP? An out-of-hours service? Or NHS Direct?
Well, this conundrum could be a thing of the past if the big hats at the Healthcare Commission have it their way. The health watchdog has just published a report which found that NHS emergency services are not providing the swift, integrated care that patients should expect.
The report also found that the transition between services can be difficult and people are often confused about which services to use. According to the watchdog, the government should support the integration of services and simplify the way services are accessed, for example, through piloting of a single telephone number for urgent care services.
"A single telephone number has the potential to ensure fewer people attend the wrong services," said the report.
In a statement released this morning, the DoH said: "As announced in Lord Darzi's review of the NHS, we are looking at the benefits of a national number and will outline the next steps for this later in the year."
The Healthcare Commission review examined out-of-hours GP services, A&E services, urgent care centres, and emergency ambulance services.
(Un)surprisingly, London was one of the worst offenders as urgent and emergency care services in the capital were found to be lagging behind those in other areas, according to the report. Half of the 28 PCTs designated ‘least well performing' by the Healthcare Commission were in London.
By contrast, services in the north of England scored much better with 42 per cent of the 48 PCTs designated as 'best performing' in the north of the country, with those in the north east performing particularly well.
But it's not all as bad as it sounds. The review found that the majority of services are performing well, with 60 per cent of PCT areas scoring the top two ratings.
It is the first time the quality of urgent and emergency care services has been examined from the perspective of the patient rather than according to which organisation provided the care.
I might start practicing my "Someone please call 911" line, Mary J Blige style…
You can find out about each PCT's scores on the Healthcare Commission website.