Editing NHS Direct (section)

===Telephone service===
In England and Wales, the NHS Direct telephone service was available on '''0845 46 47''' and was run by a specially trained team of information handlers and healthcare professionals, including nurses and dental nurses. The service was equipped to deal with a huge range of health enquiries, from symptomatic queries that require assessment and treatment, to requests for local healthcare services and healthy living advice.

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 medical services|emergency services]] as quickly as possible.<ref name=":0" />

Other symptomatic callers were able to speak to a nurse practitioner, who asked about their condition in order to recommend the best course of action. This could be giving advice about treating the problem at home, suggesting a visit to a pharmacist, or advising an appointment with their [[General practitioner|GP]], which, if in the out of hours period (when the [[General practitioner|GP]] surgeries are closed), could possibly be arranged over the phone.<ref name=":0" />

As many callers were advised to look after their symptoms at home without seeing their [[General practitioner|GP]], the NHS Direct telephone service reduced the demand on [[National Health Service (England)|NHS]] resources and helped to avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor, dentist and [[Emergency department|accident and emergency department]].

The NHS Direct telephone service also provided a confidential interpreter service in many different languages, which could be accessed by stating the language required when the call was answered. For those who are deaf or hard of hearing, there was a textphone service available on '''0845 606 4647'''.