Pharmacists and GPs have clashed over calls for an independent inquiry into the beleaguered NHS 111 service, despite both parties branding the helpline a mess.

GPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of an independent inquiry into the helpline service at the British Medical Association's Local Medical Committee conference yesterday (May 23), after speakers said its launch had proved a disaster in many areas.

But Pharmacy Voice said an independent inquiry would incur further costs and only reveal "what we already know". It stressed that the government should concentrate on fixing "fundamental flaws" in the non-emergency helpline's referral system.

"Let's reserve expensive and lengthy independent inquiries for when we don't have the answers" Rob Darracott, Pharmacy Voice	More on NHS 111 NHS 111's pharmacy blind spot undermines drive to       slash A&E admissions NHS 111 concerns prompt calls for pharmacy referrals GPs back calls to boost referrals to pharmacy MORE NEWS
	NHS England said today (May 24) that the majority of NHS 111 providers were now meeting performance standards, but recognised that certain areas were still failing to come up to scratch, especially at weekends.

It told C+D it was working with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to ensure the service was "designed and commissioned in the best possible way to meet the needs of patients and the public".

Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott said officials should start by addressing the lack of referrals to pharmacy and self-care services. "Let's reserve expensive and lengthy independent inquiries for when we don't have the answers – if the secretary of state [Jeremy Hunt] is going to fix this mess created by his immediate predecessor, then he needs local NHS 111 providers to engage with community pharmacy on the ground," he told C+D.

But members of the BMA's General Practitioners' Committee (GPC) argued that an independent inquiry was the only way to address the "waste of public money" on NHS 111. NHS England's pledge to conduct an external review was not enough, they said, and a full enquiry should identify the true extent of the helpline's failings.

Manchester LMC secretary John Hughes said NHS 111 had "put patients' lives at risk by cost-cutting". Dr Hughes claimed he had seen an independent Deloitte audit into the service, which found there were insufficient call handlers, training and governance.

GPC clinical and prescribing subcommittee chair Bill Beeby also blamed inadequate training of NHS 111 staff for contributing to overcrowded A&E departments. "In no other area of medicine are minimally trained staff expected to deal with the complexity of triage," he told the LMC conference. "Deciding who needs a paracetamol or an ambulance is never going to be a job for the inexperienced."

Other members of the GPC argued that medically trained staff such as GPs should man the phones to triage patients more effectively and reduce the number of A&E referrals.

NHS England told C+D the helpline's call advisers were fully trained and supported by experienced nurses. "Using the clinical assessment system means a smaller proportion of calls need to be referred to a nurse," a spokesperson said. "This means that NHS 111 nurses can focus on cases where their clinical skills are most needed, rather than dealing with calls that don't need their expertise."

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