NHS Direct Service to be scraped
The medical advice helpline set up by the NHS is set to face the axe in England after government plans revealed a plan to stop the service. However, the online version of the service will remain as well as the phone helpline in Scotland and Wales. The man behind this planned axing of the service is health secretary Andrew Lansley.
The helpline service, which cost one hundred and twenty three million pounds to run this year, is set to be replaced with a new service. A new 111 phone-line is currently being trialed in the North East region of England and plans to be rolled out across the entire country over a three-year period. The NHS Direct helpline gains a large amount of calls, with around fourteen thousand people calling the number every day; however, the service has garnered some criticism from some corners of the medical profession.
The NHS Direct service provides expert advice and information for all callers and also provides out-of-hours support for GP’s and dental services. The new 111 service is set to offer a number of new services, including walk-in centres and emergency dentists.
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