NHS Direct, the telephone healthcare service operated by nurses in England and Wales, is used less by ethnic minorities, people aged over 65, and disadvantaged groups than by the general population, a new report about the service in England has said. Yet these groups had “as much need as others and perhaps an even greater one.”
The report, published this week by the National Audit Office, says that the service is nevertheless operating safely and effectively. Its report details only 29 cases of adverse events in the past three years—less than one in every 220000 calls.
The impact of the service has also reduced demand on healthcare services that are provided outside normal working hours—by GPs, for example. The report says that one GP cooperative providing out of hours services had seen an 18% fall in the number of calls received, when callers were transferred to NHS Direct first.
The service was underperforming in some areas, however. Although few callers received an engaged signal, only 64% of callers managed to speak to a nurse within five minutes. The target set by the government was 90%
Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General: NHS Direct in England is available from 25 January on the National Audit Office's website (www.nao.gov.uk).