General Chat

scrapping NHS direct?..............................................

The government has confirmed it is planning to scrap the NHS Direct telephone service in England and replace it with a cheaper option.

A new 1-1-1 helpline is already being piloted in the North East.

It was previously reported that the new service may replace NHS Direct, but now the Department of Health has confirmed it will definitely do so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11120853

sounds to me it would be a bad move xx

It will probabably be based in a call centre in India. Otherwise what is the point.

i think its a bad idea
the direct line is a good servis if you need it

Not sure I should comment on this ..

I never used NHS direct (did it exist 6yrs ago). I have heard some good and some bad reports on it.
I think scrapping it for a cheaper option could only be a move in the wrong direction.
I didn't realise the new 1-1-1 was a cheaper option I thought it was being designed to make dialing easier. If it makes it easier to use and gets the same or better results then yes. but if it's easier to use for some but is a worst response, then it will be a waste of time.

My experiance of NHS direct was not a very good one.........hey but are thousands that have used them and have they are been a Godsend.

I live in the N.E, and so far found the 1~1~1 service brilliant mother in law had a bad fall ~i called the new service and before i had even put the phone down the ambluance was there.

Too many chances to quickly.

Lxxx

I wasnt certain about my OHs symptoms and rang NHS Direct. She kept me on the line util the ambulance reached us, in about 5 mins.

Hmmm, its a tricky one this, because everyone has their own experiences with NHS direct.
My experience was, that if i had listened to them and had not gone by my own instincts and called an ambulance, my mother would have died before the hour was out. Which was confirmed to me by the hospital staff.
So i really dont know.

I have used them twice and in both cases found them to be totally useless...after all how can you really diagnose over a phone? I work for a charity as a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor and NHS called me once for advice as they did not know how to help a caller.....!

I personally find individual charities a better bet, got great advice from an asthma charity and also from a cancer chairty over the phone, NHS Direct is too generic I think and i personally would not miss it.

Tracey

My experience with NHS direct wasn't exactly brilliant - but that's not their fault. In my case, I phoned them because my late husband - who was on tablet based chemo at the time - had either lost or taken one of his chemo tablets, and I wasn't sure whether to give him another one or not

Of course, NHS direct didn't know - but why should they? These things are far too important to be dealt with by phone. Unfortunately this was the only option open to me at time. Eventually, we were attended by a German locum who knew zip about either my husband's condition or indeed cancer treatment. In fact, he struggled to speak English.

NHS direct was an exercise in cost-cutting, and this latest gizmo is just another step in the same direction.

It's probably ok if you have flue symptoms, but don't rely on it if there's a serious problem

You get what you pay for in this life.

I'd personally be more than prepared to see my taxes increase if that meant that I could have my family doctor back on call (for which he'd naturally expect to be paid)

Sue x