Covid bereaved condemn government refusal to publish NHS 111 training content

The government has been criticised by The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group and MPs for refusing to make public the training materials call handlers in the NHS 111 coronavirus response service (CRS) were given at the start of the pandemic, on the grounds that they are “commercially sensitive”.

Kate Osamor, the Labour MP who warned last year that the 111 service “simply couldn’t cope” with the huge number of people needing advice for Covid-19 symptoms, condemned the refusal as an “insult” to families whose relatives have died from the virus.

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group has said that many of its members strongly believe that their relatives who died were failed by inadequate advice from 111 call handlers, and has demanded the service be investigated as part of a public inquiry.

Full story in The Guardian, 29 April 2021