NHS Direct Wales Update, Quarter Ending December 2009

Statistics on NHS Direct Wales include data for Wales for the quarter up to the end of December 2009. The latest release updates the statistics previously released on 4 November 2009.

NHS Direct Wales is a 24-hour help line staffed by nurses offering confidential advice about health, illness and the NHS. NHS Direct Wales answers calls in English, Welsh and, via a language line, over 120 other languages. NHS Direct Wales continues to expand the range of services offered in addition to the main health helpline (0845 46 47), which now include some GP Out of Hours services for, triage calls transferred from A&E departments, and a dental helpline for many areas. In addition NHS Direct Wales provides ad hoc information lines to support public health campaigns, including a Swine Flu information line from 30 April 2009, the calls to which have influenced figures starting in the quarter ending September 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:

• 127,700 calls were offered to NHS Direct Wales during the three-month period October to December 2009. This is a 12 per cent fall since the previous quarter. A year-on-year comparison shows a 42 per cent rise on the October to December quarter in 2008-09.
• 108,600 calls were answered by NHS Direct Wales during the three-month period October to December 2009. This is a 7 per cent fall since the previous quarter. A year-on-year comparison shows a 36 per cent rise on the October to December quarter in 2008-09.
• During the 12-month period to December 2009, 464,500 calls were offered to the service; a rise of 34 per cent compared with the previous 12-month period. 398,500 calls were answered by the service; a rise of 26 per cent compared with the previous 12-month period.
• During the three-month period to December 2009, NHS Direct Wales answered more than 2,000 calls (out of almost 2,700 calls offered) from callers expressing a preference for the call to be taken in Welsh. This is a fall of 3 per cent on the same quarter in 2008-09 and accounted for approximately 2 per cent of all calls answered.
• 64,700 calls were offered to the 0845 service and 63,000 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

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