�No fears� for patient safety as helpline aims to expand pool of staff

SCOTLAND'S NHS helpline has launched a recruitment drive which is encouraging less experienced nurses to join the service.

Until now, nurse advisers at NHS 24 have been on the Band 6 pay level, with a minimum five years of post-registration experience. But nurses from the grade below, with a minimum two years' experience, are being encouraged to apply for posts as the helpline seeks to recruit the equivalent of 30 full-time staff ahead of the busy winter period.

The helpline has made significant improvements since 2004, when it faced severe criticism for the deaths of two patients and was beset by delays in answering calls during busy periods.

But earlier this year it was revealed the phoneline has the highest sickness rate in the NHS, with the average worker taking one day off in 10 during 2006. Sandy Forrest, the new chief executive of NHS 24, admitted that recruiting and retaining staff was still an ongoing issue.

"We have had challenges filling our staffing levels of nurse advisers and we are hoping this will help," he said. "The grade of nurse we currently have is at quite a high level and consequently there are not that many of them about, so this expands the pool of available staff."

He stressed: "In terms of clinical safety, we have no fears that this in any way presents any additional risk to the public. They will be working in teams with the existing team leaders and surrounded by more experienced nurses."

Forrest, a former policeman who took up the NHS 24 post in May, said a major difficulty is that the service is focused on out-of-hours care, as most calls are received when GPs' surgeries are shut.

He is keen to develop the vision for NHS 24 drawn up in a three-year strategy, which could see its nurse advisers working in other areas of the health service during the day. They could, for example, monitor patients with chronic conditions or screen patients by phone prior to operations.

"At the moment, 90% of our role is out-of-hours and during in-hours, 90% of telephones and computers are lying unused," he said. "What I hope for the future is that we can find ways of using the infrastructure we already have and find ways of using the nurse resources to impact on NHS services."

Forrest's predecessor, John McGuigan, led the efforts to overhaul the service after a barrage of criticism in recent years. However, the helpline still faces being sued by families over the deaths of two patients: Aberdeen schoolgirl Shomi Miah, 17, who died from meningitis in October 2004 and Steven Wiseman, 30, of Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire, who died of toxic shock two months later. At a fatal accident inquiry into the deaths last year, Sheriff James Tierney said the pair had been "failed" by the NHS 24 system.

Mary Scanlon MSP, the Tory health spokeswoman, said: "Given the criticisms of NHS 24 in recent times, I think the public have the right to ask whether it is right to expect less experienced nurses to carry out these highly responsible tasks and the decisions required."

Nurses' leaders welcomed the move to recruit staff from a wider range of grades, but cautioned that it should not be used as a means of cutting wage bills. The pay for a Band 5 nurse ranges from £19,645 to £25,424, compared with £22,886 to £31,004 for a Band 6 nurse.

Theresa Fyffe, director of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said: "We're certainly not against a wider skill mix within the service, with the proviso that it is not used as a cost-cutting exercise and that the more experienced nurses are developed and retained within NHS 24."