Welcome

NHS Direct is at the forefront of 24-hour health care – delivering telephone and e-health information services day and night direct to the public. Although the organisation started out in 1998, it has been growing and changing over that time, most noticeably perhaps
since April 2004.

It is now far more than a telephone health line – NHS Direct has an authoritative health website, and 2004 saw the addition of the NHS Direct digital TV service – one of the largest interactive services in the UK.

Over two million people now access NHS Direct a month.

With a per capita cost of £2.40 per person per year in England, NHS Direct is amazing value, and we will continue to keep it that way.

As a provider of out-of-hours services, NHS Direct serves 40% of the English population. This is complementary to the core health advice information service and we believe that there is more potential for NHS Direct to contribute to supporting the wider NHS, by empowering people to take more care of their own health and access the NHS appropriately.