NHS Direct takes 250,000 festive calls
NHS Direct received more than a quarter of a million calls over the Christmas and New Year break, an increase of 16% on the same time last year. The health helpline answered 255,562 calls between 20 December and 1 January, compared to 221,225 during the same time last year. The busiest day was December 27, […]
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NHS Direct’s 68 revenue sharing numbers
NHS Direct has almost 70 revenue-sharing telephone lines in addition to the 0845 number for its health advice line, a Freedom of Information Act request has revealed. David Hickson, a campaigner against use of revenue-sharing numbers, submitted an FoI request in October and has received a list of 68 0845 numbers used by NHS Direct, […]
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NHS 24 takes call every two seconds
Scottish health helpline NHS 24 received one telephone call every two seconds at the height of demand for its service over Christmas. Dr George Crooks, medical director for NHS 24, said the service had been extremely busy over the holiday weekend, answering 37,590 calls over the four day Christmas period and 39,331 calls over the […]
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Official consultation on 084 numbers
The Department of Health has launched a three month consultation on whether it should ban the use of 084 numbers in the NHS in England.
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NHS Lothian declares ‘data amnesty’
A Scottish health board has declared a data amnesty after a community health worker lost a USB stick containing personal information on 137 patients.
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Records of 38,000 Isle of Wight patients lost
An encrypted back-up tape containing the medical records of over 38,000 patients from the Isle of Wight PCT has gone missing in the post. The tape contains medical records of 38,650 current and past patients of the Sandown Health Centre from July 1996 onward, and went missing somewhere between GP systems provider INPS and the […]
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Entries open for BT e-Health Insider Awards 2008
New categories in the BT e-Health Insider Awards 2008 launched today will reward excellent work by healthcare information and communications technology professionals in vital areas such as patient safety, security and wireless working. Entries are now open to individuals and teams in seven categories: Healthcare IM&T Team of the Year Best use of IM&T to […]
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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 […]
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NHS 24 signs new deal with Clinical Solutions
NHS 24 has extended its contract with Clinical Solutions for its telephony-based out-of-hours decision support system for the next three years. The extended contract involves an upgrade of the solution to encompass additional functionality from the system which was originally deployed in 2002 when the Scottish service was launched. The decision to extend the contract […]
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Police recover stolen NHS laptop
A laptop stolen from Nottinghamshire Teaching Primary Care Trust containing the names, addresses and dates of birth of 11,500 children has been recovered by police. The computer was one of three stolen from the PCTs offices at Sherwood Forest Hospital following a break-in on 21 March. It contained data on child patients aged between eight […]
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