NHS Direct Wales Update, Quarter Ending September 2009

Statistics on NHS Direct Wales include data for Wales for the quarter up to the end of September 2009. The latest release updates the statistics previously released on 5 August 2009.

The release shows the number of calls offered to NHS Direct Wales. 'Offered calls' are calls where the caller has listened to all of the welcome messaging and stayed on the line to be answered. From Quarter ending June 2002, the number of answered calls are shown. 'Answered calls' are calls in which the caller speaks to an NHS Direct operative or receives information from an automated service.

The key points from the latest release are:

• 144,300 calls were offered to NHS Direct Wales during the three-month period July to September 2009. This is a 36 per cent rise since the previous quarter. A year-on-year comparison shows a 76 per cent rise on the July to September quarter in 2008-09.
• 116,500 calls were answered by NHS Direct Wales during the three-month period July to September 2009. This is a 26 per cent rise since the previous quarter. A year-on-year comparison shows a 53 per cent rise on the July to September quarter in 2008-09.
• During the 12-month period to September 2009, 426,600 calls were offered to the service; a rise of 23 per cent compared with the previous 12-month period. 369,800 calls were answered by the service; a rise of 17 per cent compared with the previous 12-month period.
• During the three-month period to September 2009, NHS Direct Wales answered more than 2,000 calls (out of more than 2,700 calls offered) from callers expressing a preference for the call to be taken in Welsh. This is a rise of 23 per cent on the same quarter in 2008-09 and accounted for approximately 2 per cent of all calls answered.
• 70,700 calls were offered to the 0845 service (Chart 1) and 73,500 calls to other NHS Direct Wales services, including GP Out of Hours services.

Further information can be found on the StatsWales website.

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 3598
E-mail: stats.healthinfo@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

February 2010 (provisional - to be confirmed on the 'Due Out Soon' page)