'Seven minutes to use toilet during 12hour shift and less than nine minutes to respond to NHS 111 calls' - former Derbyshire employee speaks up about working at company handling NHS calls
A former DHU Healthcare employee has raised concerns about working conditions - including insufficient toilet breaks and call length targets which he believes were affecting the quality of support offered to patients.
DHU Healthcare is a ‘not-for-profit’ community interest company offering a wide range of services to NHS – including urgent and emergency care, primary care, out of hours services and NHS111.
On its website, the company describes itself as a ‘socially conscious organisation’ providing ‘compassionate, safe, high-quality care to their patients and the communities’ as well as a ‘supportive work environment to 2,000 people’ they employ.
But a former employee, who worked as a 111 call responder at DHU Healthcare, raised a number of concerns about the working conditions and support offered to patients.
The man who did not wish to be named due to a fear of consequences complained about 'unplanned time' breaks known as 'make busy 1' (MB1) - which would limit the time per shift when employees could use a toilet or make a drink outside of a lunch break.
He said: “In an eight hour shift they would give us five or six minutes to go to the toilet or get a drink."
A table issued by DHU healthcare to its employees shows that for a shift of up to four hours, employees could get only up to two minutes on MB1.
During an eight hour shift, employees were allocated five minutes on MB1 and for the longest shifts of up to 12 hours it was only seven minutes.
The former employee has raised further concerns about the call length targets and their impact on the support received by patients.
A table issued by DHU healthcare to its employees in an email earlier this year shows that Average Call Length target in May was between 7 minutes 30 seconds and eight minutes 15 seconds. This was increased to up to 8 minutes and 30 seconds from June 1, 2025.
The former employee said: “They push you to get off the phone with patients as quick as possible to take the next call. You get hassled if you are on the phone with a patient too long, not able to give them the proper time.
"This is a health provider which is meant to be providing health services to people of East Midlands. But I think they are putting profit in front of patient care.”
The employee described in detail a case, which left him particularly concerned, with communications relating to the incident shown to the Derbyshire Times.
The former DHU Healthcare employee said: “I had a call where a patient had fallen off a fence and injured their back and head, and couldn't get up.
"They was outside in the middle of a field on their own, it was raining heavy so they was wet and cold in the middle of a field where it is hard to find them. And I was told to leave them and get off the call.
"That seems to me like they are more concerned about their overall statistics and looking good and getting as many calls done to maximise money, rather than individual patients.”
Derbyshire Times contacted DHU Healthcare with concerns presented.
The company claimed that they were no longer using the MB1 break system, which last appears in digital communication outlining targets for June 2025.
DHU Healthcare further denied having ‘prescribed’ call lengths despite the call length targets set out in communications to employees earlier this year.
The company said they could not respond to any ‘individual context’.
A spokesperson for DHU Healthcare said: “At DHU Healthcare, the health, safety, and wellbeing of our colleagues and patients are our highest priorities.
"We work hard to provide a supportive working environment in NHS 111 where colleagues can take personal comfort breaks at any time during their shift and are encouraged to take time out following challenging calls.
“We no longer use the historical term ‘make busy’ and have clear processes in place that allow our colleagues to pause or step away from the phones when needed.
“Our Health Advisors are trained to deliver safe, compassionate, high-quality care, and we would not expect any colleagues to be asked to end a call early and risk patient safety. Call lengths are not prescribed or incentivised, and our contracts are not based on a ‘price per patient’ model.
“We would be concerned if any former colleague had a different experience, but as this information has been shared anonymously, we are unable to respond fully.
"We would, however, welcome the opportunity to discuss this directly so we can listen, learn, and ensure any concerns are fully understood. Our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians remain available to anyone who wishes to raise or revisit a concern in confidence, even after leaving DHU.”