More serious matters are assessed by a professional and users are subsequently issued with treatment advice or recommended to another branch within the NHS. Initiated in 1997, NHS Direct sites started ...

Family doctors say NHS Direct offers a 'chronically poor service' to patients. The helpline is unsafe, slow and inaccurate in logging patients' details, claims a group of GPs in Kent. The attack ...

NHS Direct, first launched in 1998 and since replaced by NHS 111, handles 20,000 calls (Truro) every day at its peak. James O'Brien reveals how the NHS may give him his sight back after 25 years.

Health shake-up will see GPs directly refer people for further checks, speeding up diagnoses and freeing up staff, says ...

Over the last 30 years or so, various initiatives have been tried – hospital trusts, GP fund holders, NHS Direct etc – with the aim of reducing costs and making the NHS more efficient.

The draft policy paper also says the health secretary would take more direct control over NHS England. The Department for Health and Social Care said it did not comment on leaks. A spokesman added ...