NHS Direct

January 2011

Welcome to the January issue of News Direct, the e-bulletin that keeps you up to date on what's happening at NHS Direct. We hope you will find it interesting and informative. Feel free to email your comments on the e-bulletin to stakeholders@nhsdirect.nhs.uk.

NHS Direct web services overtook the telephone during the festive period

NHS Direct’s telephone and online services were used over 830,000 times during the festive period and over half of those contacts were via NHS Direct’s online health and symptom checkers.

NHS Direct – the next five years

Our vision is that NHS Direct will provide remotely delivered care that is increasingly valued by patients and the wider health and social care system. Underpinning this are six strategic objectives.

New online health and symptom checkers cover a wide range of symptoms

34 online health and symptom checkers are now available at www.nhs.uk/nhsdirect covering a wide range of symptoms. NHS Direct is also making them available to public, private or charity sector organisations in England to use on their own websites.

Look out for NHS Direct at forthcoming conferences and events

NHS Direct will be hosting a workshop and exhibiting at the Healthcare Innovation Expo, 9-10 March 2011, in London and will be involved in the Florence Nightingale Foundation Conference on the 10-11 March 2011, again in London.

Change of address for NHS Direct’s head office

NHS Direct’s head office moved to a new address on Friday 21 January 2011.

Contacting your NHS Direct regional director

If you would like more information about any of the articles in this bulletin or are interested in commissioning services from NHS Direct, please contact your NHS Direct regional director.