NHS Direct
Encyclopedia
NHS Direct is the health advice and information service provided by the National Health Service
(NHS) for residents and visitors in England
, with advice offered 24 hours a day
, every day of the year through telephone contact on the national 0845 46 47 number, web based symptom checkers at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk and via mobile, both as apps for iPhone
and Android smart phones and a mobile website. As a part of the National Health Service, all NHS Direct services are free at the point of care.
Users of the service, through whichever channel, are asked questions about their symptoms or problem. Common problems are often given simple self care advice, which they can follow thereby avoiding an expensive visit to a health care professional. More complex problems are assessed by a nurse and can then be given treatment advice or referred on to another service within the NHS.
As well as these core services, NHS Direct provides a number of commissioned services throughout the NHS, such as specialised support for patients with long term conditions, access to GP
and dental healthcare out of hours, and a professional response system for times of public health anxiety.
NHS Direct only provides its service for residents and visitors in England, and there are corresponding public services covering Scotland
(NHS 24) and Wales
(NHS Direct Wales
). Northern Ireland
does not have such a service.
In August 2010, the BBC reported that David Cameron's coalition government was planning to scrap the NHS Direct 0845 46 47 helpline telephone service in favour of the cheaper NHS 111
number. This intention was set out in the white paper, but was portrayed in the media as a ‘leak’ by the Conservative Health Secretary Andrew Lansley
.
Every person that calls NHS Direct feeling unwell is assessed to establish the severity of their symptoms, so as to re-route any urgent or life-threatening situations to the emergency services
as quickly as possible.
Other symptomatic callers are able to speak to a nurse, who will ask about their condition in order to recommend the best course of action. This could be giving advice about treating the problem at home, suggesting a visit to a pharmacist, or advising an appointment with their GP
, which, if in the out of hours period (when the GP
surgeries are closed), can possibly be arranged over the phone.
As many callers are advised to look after their symptoms at home without seeing their GP
, the NHS Direct telephone service reduces the demand on NHS
resources and helps to avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor, dentist and accident and emergency department
.
The NHS Direct telephone service also provides a confidential interpreter service in many different languages, which can be accessed by stating the language required when the call is answered. For those who are deaf or hard of hearing, there is a textphone service available on 0845 606 4647.
All NHS Direct health advice and information on the website passes through a rigorous clinical check by medical professionals before it is published.
Non-urgent health queries can be submitted to the NHS Direct online enquiry service and the website also offers a confidential webchat service for those needing advice about unprotected sex or emergency contraception.
and Android smart phones, both available in the normal app stores.
until 31 March 2009, when the service was closed.
The Freeview service, on channel 100 is now hosted by NHS Choices http://www.nhs.uk.
The digital television service contained condensed versions of many of the most common and popular health encyclopaedia topics and common health questions.
.
NHS Direct supports many local health authorities in England, including Primary Care Trusts
(PCTs), helping them to deliver the best possible standards of healthcare to people in each region.
These services range from dedicated projects in particular areas, such as the local telephone helpline set up for Sandwell PCT
after a dental health scare, to schemes that are developed nationwide. These include a telephone-based pre and post operative assessment for patients having surgery, and allocating care managers to give regular coaching and advice to those with long term conditions, such as diabetes
and cardiovascular disease
.
.
The aim of NHS Direct, as stated by the government in the NHS White Paper, The New NHS, was "to provide people at home with easier and faster advice and information about health, illness, and the NHS, so that they are better able to care for themselves and their families".
The NHS Direct telephone service began taking calls in three contact centres in Lancashire, Northumbria and Milton Keynes in March 1998. These original sites were set up as pilots but soon proved successful, reaching over 1 million people and earning highly positive feedback. Additional waves of pilots were established in contact centres around England until the whole country was covered by the NHS Direct telephone service in 2000.
NHS Direct added a website to its services at the end of 1999, allowing users to find clinically accurate health advice and information anonymously and at their leisure. Since its creation, the NHS Direct website has steadily improved and developed, attracting more and more users. Currently, there are over 1.5 million visitors to the website every month.
NHS Direct's services continue to expand and improve, as do the ways in which they reach their users. It has been said that this has made the organisation "the largest and most successful healthcare provider of its kind, anywhere in the world".
It was reported that each call made to NHS Direct cost £25 to answer - an earlier official report had put the total at £16.
number, following three pilots in the North East, East Midlands and East of England. NHS 111 is intended to work in an integrated way with local GPs, out-of-hours services, ambulance services and hospitals, for the benefit of patients and to help the NHS become more efficient. NHS Direct as an organisation is not being closed down, nor was this ever the Government’s intention. NHS Direct will have an ongoing role, along with other providers, in helping to deliver the NHS 111 Service and, in the interim, will continue providing local and national telephone and web-based services on behalf of its commissioners. The Labour party, which founded NHS Direct, voiced its opposition to the proposal, although it had promised to introduce the new 111 hotline nationally in its election manifesto.
National Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
(NHS) for residents and visitors in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with advice offered 24 hours a day
24/7
24/7 is an abbreviation which stands for "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", usually referring to a business or service available at all times without interruption...
, every day of the year through telephone contact on the national 0845 46 47 number, web based symptom checkers at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk and via mobile, both as apps for iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and Android smart phones and a mobile website. As a part of the National Health Service, all NHS Direct services are free at the point of care.
Users of the service, through whichever channel, are asked questions about their symptoms or problem. Common problems are often given simple self care advice, which they can follow thereby avoiding an expensive visit to a health care professional. More complex problems are assessed by a nurse and can then be given treatment advice or referred on to another service within the NHS.
As well as these core services, NHS Direct provides a number of commissioned services throughout the NHS, such as specialised support for patients with long term conditions, access to GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
and dental healthcare out of hours, and a professional response system for times of public health anxiety.
NHS Direct only provides its service for residents and visitors in England, and there are corresponding public services covering Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
(NHS 24) and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
(NHS Direct Wales
NHS Direct Wales
NHS Direct Wales is a 24-hour telephone and internet health advice service provided by NHS Wales to enable people to obtain advice when use of the national emergency telephone number does not seem to be appropriate but there is some degree of urgency; it also functions as a confidential advice...
). Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
does not have such a service.
In August 2010, the BBC reported that David Cameron's coalition government was planning to scrap the NHS Direct 0845 46 47 helpline telephone service in favour of the cheaper NHS 111
NHS 111 (England)
NHS 111 is an English medical helpline, with a free to call three digit number, currently in pilot stage in three areas across England, and due to be rolled out nationally by 2013, at which point it will replace the NHS Direct 0845 4647 number which has been running since 1998...
number. This intention was set out in the white paper, but was portrayed in the media as a ‘leak’ by the Conservative Health Secretary Andrew Lansley
Andrew Lansley
Andrew David Lansley, CBE, MP is the UK Secretary of State for Health, who has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for South Cambridgeshire since the 1997 general election, and was Shadow Secretary of State for Health from June 2004 until becoming Secretary of State for Health in May 2010...
.
Health and symptomatic advice
NHS Direct's core service is the provision of health advice to the public through the national telephone service or through digital channels including the website.Telephone service
In England and Wales, the NHS Direct telephone service is available on 0845 4647 and is run by a specially trained team of information handlers and healthcare professionals, including nurses and dental nurses. The service is equipped to deal with a huge range of health enquiries, from symptomatic queries that require assessment and treatment, to requests for local healthcare services and healthy living advice.Every person that calls NHS Direct feeling unwell is assessed to establish the severity of their symptoms, so as to re-route any urgent or life-threatening situations to the emergency services
Emergency medical services
Emergency medical services are a type of emergency service dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient, or the medical practitioner, believes constitutes a medical emergency...
as quickly as possible.
Other symptomatic callers are able to speak to a nurse, who will ask about their condition in order to recommend the best course of action. This could be giving advice about treating the problem at home, suggesting a visit to a pharmacist, or advising an appointment with their GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
, which, if in the out of hours period (when the GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
surgeries are closed), can possibly be arranged over the phone.
As many callers are advised to look after their symptoms at home without seeing their GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
, the NHS Direct telephone service reduces the demand on NHS
National Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
resources and helps to avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor, dentist and accident and emergency department
Emergency department
An emergency department , also known as accident & emergency , emergency room , emergency ward , or casualty department is a medical treatment facility specialising in acute care of patients who present without prior appointment, either by their own means or by ambulance...
.
The NHS Direct telephone service also provides a confidential interpreter service in many different languages, which can be accessed by stating the language required when the call is answered. For those who are deaf or hard of hearing, there is a textphone service available on 0845 606 4647.
Website
The NHS Direct website can be found at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk, and has a variety of symptom checkers, based on the same system used on the telephone service and can either give self care advice or direct a user to another NHS service. For more complex queries, the symptom checkers allow the user to receive a call back from a nurse or to take part in a webchat for further information and help.All NHS Direct health advice and information on the website passes through a rigorous clinical check by medical professionals before it is published.
Non-urgent health queries can be submitted to the NHS Direct online enquiry service and the website also offers a confidential webchat service for those needing advice about unprotected sex or emergency contraception.
Mobile services
NHS Direct offers its full range of symptom checkers optimised for mobile devices on its mobile website and has also launched stand alone 'apps' for iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and Android smart phones, both available in the normal app stores.
Digital television channel
NHS Direct provided an interactive TV service via Sky InteractiveSky Active
Sky Active is the brand name for interactive features on Sky Digital and is available in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. It enables a viewer to interact with TV content, respond to an advertisement or access internet-based services....
until 31 March 2009, when the service was closed.
The Freeview service, on channel 100 is now hosted by NHS Choices http://www.nhs.uk.
The digital television service contained condensed versions of many of the most common and popular health encyclopaedia topics and common health questions.
Commissioned services
Although it is not well known, NHS Direct supplies a multitude of additional commissioned services within the NHSNational Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
.
NHS Direct supports many local health authorities in England, including Primary Care Trusts
NHS Primary Care Trust
An NHS primary care trust is a type of NHS trust, part of the National Health Service in England. PCTs commission primary, community and secondary care from providers. Until 31 may2011 they also provided community services directly. Collectively PCT are responsible for spending around 80% of the...
(PCTs), helping them to deliver the best possible standards of healthcare to people in each region.
These services range from dedicated projects in particular areas, such as the local telephone helpline set up for Sandwell PCT
NHS Primary Care Trust
An NHS primary care trust is a type of NHS trust, part of the National Health Service in England. PCTs commission primary, community and secondary care from providers. Until 31 may2011 they also provided community services directly. Collectively PCT are responsible for spending around 80% of the...
after a dental health scare, to schemes that are developed nationwide. These include a telephone-based pre and post operative assessment for patients having surgery, and allocating care managers to give regular coaching and advice to those with long term conditions, such as diabetes
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...
and cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
.
History and background
NHS Direct was launched in 1998 after the government identified a need for a telephone health advice line staffed by nurses as part of its plans to modernise the NHSNational Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
.
The aim of NHS Direct, as stated by the government in the NHS White Paper, The New NHS, was "to provide people at home with easier and faster advice and information about health, illness, and the NHS, so that they are better able to care for themselves and their families".
The NHS Direct telephone service began taking calls in three contact centres in Lancashire, Northumbria and Milton Keynes in March 1998. These original sites were set up as pilots but soon proved successful, reaching over 1 million people and earning highly positive feedback. Additional waves of pilots were established in contact centres around England until the whole country was covered by the NHS Direct telephone service in 2000.
NHS Direct added a website to its services at the end of 1999, allowing users to find clinically accurate health advice and information anonymously and at their leisure. Since its creation, the NHS Direct website has steadily improved and developed, attracting more and more users. Currently, there are over 1.5 million visitors to the website every month.
NHS Direct's services continue to expand and improve, as do the ways in which they reach their users. It has been said that this has made the organisation "the largest and most successful healthcare provider of its kind, anywhere in the world".
It was reported that each call made to NHS Direct cost £25 to answer - an earlier official report had put the total at £16.
Abolition of NHS Direct helpline (England)
The Department of Health has confirmed that NHS Direct's telephone number is to be phased out in favour of the new non-emergency NHS 111NHS 111 (England)
NHS 111 is an English medical helpline, with a free to call three digit number, currently in pilot stage in three areas across England, and due to be rolled out nationally by 2013, at which point it will replace the NHS Direct 0845 4647 number which has been running since 1998...
number, following three pilots in the North East, East Midlands and East of England. NHS 111 is intended to work in an integrated way with local GPs, out-of-hours services, ambulance services and hospitals, for the benefit of patients and to help the NHS become more efficient. NHS Direct as an organisation is not being closed down, nor was this ever the Government’s intention. NHS Direct will have an ongoing role, along with other providers, in helping to deliver the NHS 111 Service and, in the interim, will continue providing local and national telephone and web-based services on behalf of its commissioners. The Labour party, which founded NHS Direct, voiced its opposition to the proposal, although it had promised to introduce the new 111 hotline nationally in its election manifesto.