NHS Direct to die. Or not. Maybe

Reports last week and indeed over the weekend suggested the service faced termination in the wake of the new 111 service.

 

Cost was given as the reason – 111 needs less nurses, so is easier and cheaper to run. However, the Department of Health has added its own spin, saying there are no immediate plans to kill off NHS Direct online.

 

But the DoH statement is on second reading somewhat ambiguous, as it says that the site will remain in operation while the government reviews the wider use of information in the health service.

 

The department has confirmed the NHS Direct telephone consultation service – which runs over £120 million a year to run out of a total annual run-rate of £200 million - will be phased out by 111, but only when that becomes national – at the moment it is still of course just on trail in the North East.

 

All this activity is of course part of the deeper shifts in overall NHS information strategy prompted by the publication of the coalition's  Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS white paper.

 

Eventually Brits will have two main numbers to use to contact the doctor if worried - 999 for emergencies, 111 for everything else, says the Department.

 

But critics are already worried that 111 uses far less qualified nurses, so callers will have to rely on call centre operatives for advice with much less proper clinical knowledge: NHS Direct currently employs more than 3,000 staff, 40% of whom are trained nurses.