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According to a reports by a number of news sources this week, the Health Secretary has confirmed plans to replace the NHS Direct telephone service with the new 1-1-1 helpline that is currently being piloted in North East England. News of the abolition of the website and nurse-led telephone service emerged during a ministerial visit to a hospital in Hampshire.

During the visit, health secretary Andrew Lansley told reporters that the NHS 111 service would be rolled out nationally and that when it was it would replace NHS Direct.

The Royal College of Nursing called the decision “short sighted” and said NHS Direct’s expert nurses had kept more than 1.5m out of A&E and saved the NHS more than £200m by dispensing advice over the phone.

“NHS Direct has developed over many years into a service that patients really value,” said chief executive Dr Peter Carter. “We would be extremely concerned if the expertise it offers is indeed under threat.”

News of the abolition of NHS Direct has sparked a huge row, with Lord Prescott setting up an internet campaign to trigger a debate in Parliament about the move, which many critics have portrayed as a purely cost-cutting measure.

Taken from e-Health-Insider
www.e-health-insider.com/news/6197/row_brews_over_end_of_nhs_direct