NHS Direct
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NHS Direct is a 24 hour health advice and information service provided by the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
NHS Direct provides confidential access to medical information, guidance and reassurance through a range of interactive services. These include an expert telephone advice line and detailed web resources.
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.
There are corresponding public services covering Scotland (NHS 24) and Wales (NHS Direct Wales). Northern Ireland does not have such a service.
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[edit] NHS Direct services
NHS Direct is arguably best known for its 24 hour telephone health line. However, this is just one of the many services NHS Direct offers to ensure that its users receive the right healthcare quickly and easily, whilst also supporting the wider NHS.They are a Statutory Service which means its free to the puplic.
[edit] Telephone service
In England and Wales, the NHS Direct telephone service is available on 0845 4647. The telephone number of the Scottish service, NHS 24, is 08454 242424 The telephone line is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It 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 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.
[edit] Website
The NHS Direct website can be found at http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/, and showcases the various services the organisation provides.
The website also links to NHS Direct's online health advice and information located on the NHS Choices website. This includes an in depth health encyclopaedia of conditions and treatments, answers to hundreds of commonly asked health questions, and an online self-help guide designed to recommend the appropriate source of care for many common symptoms and ailments. All NHS Direct health advice and information passes through a rigorous clinical check by medical professionals before it is published. [1]
Visitors to the NHS Direct website can use online symptom checkers to get personalised advice for cold or flu symptoms, contraceptive advice and sexual health issues.[2] The website also offers a confidential webchat service for those needing advice about unprotected sex or emergency contraception. Non-urgent health queries can be submitted to the NHS Direct online enquiry service.
There is also an array of detailed corporate information for current and potential employees, shareholders, the press, and anyone with an interest in the way NHS Direct services are managed and delivered.
[edit] Digital television channel
NHS Direct provided an interactive TV service via Sky Interactive until 31 March 2009, when the service was closed. [3]
The Freeview service, on channel 100 is now hosted by NHS Choices[1]. [4]
The digital television service contained condensed versions of many of the most common and popular health encyclopaedia topics and common health questions.
[edit] Commissioned services
Although it is not well known, NHS Direct supplies a multitude of additional commissioned services within the NHS.
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.
[edit] 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 NHS. [5]
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". [6]
The NHS Direct telephone service began taking calls in three contact centres in Lancashire, Northumbria and Milton Keynes in March 1998. [7] 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. [8]
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 3 million visitors to the website every month. [9]
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". [10]
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ NHS Direct. "Clincal Supervision Policy", retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/zone.aspx?zonename=Health_Zone
- ^ http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/article.aspx?name=DigitalTV
- ^ http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Channels/Interactive/NHS-Choices
- ^ Department of Health. "The New NHS: Modern, Dependable", retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ NHS Direct. "History of NHS Direct", retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ Department of Health. "Evaluation of NHS Direct first wave sites first interim report to the Department of Health", retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ NHS Direct. "History of NHS Direct", retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ NHS Direct. "History of NHS Direct", retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ Department of Health. "Developing NHS Direct: Strategy Document for the next three years" (Foreword), retrieved 2009-01-15.
