NHS Direct

NHS Direct and purdah

You may be wondering why we have been a little quiet lately on our social media channels. This is because we are currently in a local election purdah.

Purdah - what is it?

Purdah is a political convention that prevents civil servants (which obviously includes NHS Direct) from making any policy announcements or comments that may be politically contentious, i.e. we can't say anything that may sway opinion towards or away from any political party. It is enforced for a defined period of time in the run up to an election.

Purdah - when is it?

The current purdah or pre-election period runs from 27th March until 3rd May 2012, when local elections take place.

How this affects our use of social media

Guidance has been issued to civil servants regarding purdah advising that, amongst other things, civil servants’ participation in a professional capacity in social networks (e.g. Facebook & Twitter) as well as in forums, online communities and other public online discussions should be limited during the election period to:

commenting on operational matters relating to services such as notifying users of technical problems with a website or digital service.
responding to factual queries by signposting existing content.

We hope that explains why we're not putting out as much Twitter or Facebook activity of late.

If you need health advice and information

If you require health advice and information at any time during the pre-election period, rest assured that none of our usual services are altered in any way. There are still lots of ways for you to use our services:

get advice online using our new, updated range of online health and symptom checkers
send a health enquiry to our national health information service
download our smartphone app for health advice on the move
use the telephone helpline by calling 0845 4647 - we are open 24-hours a day, 365 days a year