NHS Direct demand breaks seasonal records

Over one million people contacted NHS Direct in England over the 11 day Christmas and New Year holidays, breaking all previous records. But in Scotland, demand for NHS24 showed a year-on-year decline.

Figures for phone calls and online traffic to NHS Direct Online from 21 December 2007 to 1 January 2008 – show an increase of 61% on the same period last year when total contacts reached 699,553.

The busiest day was Saturday 29 December when the service received 30,096 calls making it the busiest day in 2007. Boxing Day followed close behind at 29,299. A breakdown of the different types of contact showed 270,000 people getting in touch by phone and 852,533 visiting online.

Phone calls to Scotland’s NHS24, by contrast, dropped from 93,436 in the 2006-7 holidays to 71,773 in 2007-8.

Dr Mike Sadler, NHS Direct chief operating officer, said: “Call patterns have been markedly different from our previous experience. The last few Christmases have been attached to a weekend, giving us the so-called ‘four day Christmas’.

“Given that Christmas and Boxing Day had working days either side in 2007, we had expected call patterns to revert to previous experiences of mid-week Christmases. Nevertheless, both weekends were really busy, almost as though the working days (24, 27, and 28) were discounted – giving us a nine-day Christmas.”

NHS 24’s interim chief executive, George Crooks, attributed the lower demand in Scotland to GP practices being open on the Mondays of both weeks – Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

He said: “This appears to have avoided the cumulative build up of ill health over a consecutive four day period of closure which was the case last year.”

An advertising campaign encouraging patients to get an adequate supply of prescription medicines before the break also appeared to have a positive effect and the absence of a winter flu outbreak this year contributed to lower demand too.

Crooks said: “The public also seem to have planned better than previous years as we had much fewer calls about access to medicines and we are very appreciative of this support.”

Ailments leading to calls north and south of the border were similar, however. The most visited topics on NHS Direct Online were: flu, chickenpox, adult chest infection, irritable bowel syndrome and shingles.

Top reasons for calling the NHS Direct helpline during this period were: dental pain, vomiting, abdominal pain – in keeping with reports about the rise in Norovirus and other related viruses – and calls relating to fever and respiratory tract symptoms.

NHS 24’s callers were also troubled by viral respiratory infections such as sore throats, temperatures, fevers and coughs. A lot of calls related to diarrhoea and vomiting illnesses and there were some calls about chickenpox.