NHS Direct Helpline Uncertainty
September 13, 2010
Posted by:Suzanne Trask
Andrew Lansley, secretary of state for health, said that NHS Direct would remain but that its telephone number would be replaced so that from 2013 people could call 111 for non-emergencies and 999 for emergencies.
This appears to contradict statements from the Department of Health last month, including to the BBC, that said the service would be scrapped. There are concerns that fewer medical staff will be employed by the new service. NHS Direct employs 3,400 people, 40% of whom are trained nurses. It was reported that the ratio for the new helpline would be lower.
The threat to the telephone service, which costs £123m a year to run, provoked an immediate backlash. NHS Direct provides general health advice and information about out-of-hours GPs, walk-in centres, emergency dentists and 24-hour chemists.
The Royal College of Nursing said it would be "shortsighted" of ministers to axe a service that had saved the NHS more than £200 million by dispensing advice over the phone.
Despite its popularity, the medical establishment has been divided over the benefits of phone line. Earlier this summer British Medical Association chairman Dr Laurence Buckman said that getting rid of NHS Direct could be one way of cutting back on spending — adding that the "expensive" phoneline delayed healthcare reaching patients.