On the face of it, introducing the 111 medical helpline for non-emergency but nevertheless somewhat urgent calls was a good one.

Far too many people were resorting to calling 999 with medical problems because they didn’t know what else to do, but in doing so were inadvertently clogging a system that was built to get quick responses to life-or-death situations.

However, it seems the 111 service has, according to new figures, not been hitting its required targets in this region.

Staff are meant to answer 95 per cent of the calls within a minute, and this target was being breached three-quarters of the time.

A minute might not seem a very long time at all, but if you are in pain or worried about something, then the longer you are kept waiting for help the worse it can seem.

Added to that, some people reported that when the 111 service came in last Easter they were given poor advice, did not have their calls answered at all, or were diverted to medical staff in completely the wrong part of the country.

Unlike the former helpline, NHS Direct, the 111 service isn’t a national network but is run locally and is managed in this area by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. This makes sense as if more urgent attention is required, callers can receive it quickly. But that only works if the calls are kept within the local framework.

The NHS reports that the 111 service is now performing much better since the survey was carried out, and that it is here to stay. Let us hope that these problems are mere teething troubles, and 111 does its job more in line with its targets in future.