What is NHS Direct?
NHS Direct is changing.
In line with the 2012/13 NHS Operating Framework, NHS Direct’s national 0845 4647 service will shortly be decommissioned, and will be replaced by the locally commissioned NHS 111 service.
As each new NHS 111 service takes over responsibility for the calls previously made to the 0845 service, callers will hear a recorded message informing them that the 0845 service is no longer available in their area, and advising them to redial 111.
NHS Direct has been contracted by a variety of local commissioners to provide the NHS 111 service in their area. As a result, NHS Direct will be the provider of the NHS 111 service to just over one third of England’s population, in the following areas:
- Buckinghamshire
- Cornwall & Isles of Scilly
- East London and the City
- North Essex
- North West – Cumbria and Lancashire
- North West - Merseyside and Cheshire
- North West - Greater Manchester
- Somerset
- South East London
- Sutton & Merton
- West Midlands
In other areas of England the service will be delivered by other providers, for example Ambulance Service Trusts or GP out-of-hours providers.
In addition, NHS Direct will provide a range of other services to complement NHS 111.
These include:
- A digital health and advice service, including web and mobile based ‘Health and Symptom Checkers’ which include the ability for patients to speak to an advisor. These services are accessed through NHS Choices.
- A complex health and medicines information service
- A dental nurse assessment service
- The Choose and Book appointments line for patients newly referred to hospital consultant out-patient clinics to choose and book their clinic appointments
- A national customer service telephone line to capture and publish patients’ feedback and reviews of their experiences of using NHS services, and to direct customer service enquiries on behalf of patients and members of the public
- Local contracts to support the management and prevention of long-term conditions
