Over 850,000 people accessed NHS Direct’s telephone and online services over the festive period (19 December 2009 to 3 January 2010).
NHS Direct answered over 330,000 telephone calls during this period (compared to 319,000 calls taken in the same period last year*). NHS Direct also received over 520,000 online visits for advice and guidance, including over 100,000 visits alone to its online initial assessment tool, launched just before Christmas.
Between 19 December 2009 and 3 January 2010, NHS Direct also handled over 7,300 Ambulance Category C (low priority) telephone calls, helping ensure that 999 lines remained available for high priority emergency calls. This was up from 2,400 calls for the same period last year, an increase of over 200%.
The busiest day for the telephone service was Monday, 28 December 2009, when the service answered over 30,700 calls against a November daily average of 16,700 calls. Online visits were highest on Sunday, 3 January 2010 with over 42,000 visits.
During the Christmas and New Year period, NHS Direct gave 60% of all callers advice on how to treat their symptoms at home without the need for them to attend another NHS provider.
Our e-Report gives you 24-hour access to NHS Direct’s performance data for each PCT area from your own PC. To find out more about our e-Report and to arrange access to data for your locality, please email your NHS Direct Regional Director.
* This year, the telephone statistics include calls answered by NHS Direct for West Yorkshire Urgent Care, a service commissioned and funded by PCTs in West Yorkshire, set up in April 2009. This means a direct comparison cannot be made between this year and last year’s telephone statistics.
