Every person that called NHS Direct feeling unwell was assessed to establish the severity of their symptoms, so as to re-route any urgent or life-threatening situations to the emergency services as quickly as possible.
For more complex queries, the symptom checkers allowed the user to receive a call back from a nurse or to take part in a webchat for further information and help.
[4] All NHS Direct health advice and information on the website passed through a rigorous clinical check by medical professionals before it was published.
NHS Direct supported many local health authorities in England, including primary care trusts (PCTs), helping them to deliver high-quality healthcare to people in each region.
These services ranged from dedicated projects in particular areas, such as the local telephone helpline set up for Sandwell PCT after a dental health scare, to schemes that were developed nationwide.
These include a telephone-based pre and post-operative assessment for patients having surgery, and allocating care managers to give regular coaching and advice to those with long term conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
[11] The NHS Direct telephone service began taking calls in three contact centres in Lancashire, Northumbria and Milton Keynes in March 1998.
[12] These original sites were set up as pilots but soon proved successful, reaching over 1 million people and earning highly positive feedback.
Additional waves of pilots were established in contact centres around England until the whole country was covered by the NHS Direct telephone service in 2000.
[11] NHS Direct added a website to its services at the end of 1999, allowing users to find clinically accurate health advice and information anonymously.