Doctors’ leaders have written to the Government over “serious misgivings” about the rollout of a new number for non-emergency services.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said the deadline for introducing the new 111 telephone number needs to be relaxed from its current date of April 2013.

In the short-term, 111 will run alongside existing local telephone services and NHS Direct, but it will eventually become the single number for non-emergency care.

In a letter to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, the BMA said its doctors had raised a “number of serious problems and concerns” in the pilot schemes used to test the number.

via The Independent.