Symptom checkers improve services for patients
NHS Direct’s online health and symptom checkers recognised for improving services for patients
NHS Direct’s online health and symptom checkers were recognised for their innovative approach to improving services at this year’s e-Government awards.
NHS Direct won the ‘Innovation in strategy on a national level’ award at the ceremony on 26 January 2011. The award demonstrates how our online health and symptom checkers have improved processes, effectiveness and services to patients within the transformational government agenda. NHS Direct was one of seven finalists shortlisted for the award.
NHS Direct has been developing its award-winning suite of online health and symptom checkers over the last year. They are available at www.nhs.uk/nhsdirect and cover a wide range of topics including specific conditions, such as diarrhoea and vomiting, colds and flu and sexual health matters, as well as more specialist advice on issues, such as contraception and mental health. The checkers were used over 700,000 times in December 2010 and, for the first time, overtook the telephone service during the busy two week Christmas period.
The tools work by asking the user a series of questions. Depending on the information provided, users may be offered self-care advice so that they can manage their symptoms at home, or it may suggest that further advice is sought from another healthcare provider. A call back from an NHS Direct nurse advisor is only a click away if a further assessment is recommended.
Want to have the online health and symptoms checkers on your website?
NHS Direct is making the online health and symptom checkers available to public, private or charity sector organisations in England to use on their own websites. These quality assured tools can appear in their entirety within other organisations’ websites and can be fully customised to match host websites.
For more information about putting NHS Direct’s online health and symptom checkers on your organisation’s website, visit www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/partnerships or contact Head of Partnerships, Owain Davies, on 0207 599 4227 or owain.davies@nhsdirect.nhs.uk
Symptom checkers
National Head of Clinical Content, Information and Development Enid Povey discusses the benefits of our health and symptom checkers, and a user gives feedback
Colds & flu
Get advice now on whether you should see your GP or look after yourself at home. Flu can be a serious condition for some people, so it's important to get advice if you have flu-like symptoms...
Diarrhoea & vomiting
Most people experience diarrhoea and vomiting at some time or other. Check your symptoms and find out what to do..
