Eric DoyleThe NHS is fulfilling its promise to provide wider access to NHS
Direct with the opening of 153 public access points sited in
schools and universities, health centres, supermarkets and holiday
resorts around England, with one kiosk situated in Newport,
Wales.
NHS Direct is a self-help scheme which incorporates Web-based
information on healthcare issues and treatments backed up by a
helpline manned by nurses. The scheme has been criticised by GPs
who have expressed concern that some serious illnesses can only be
diagnosed by a physical check-up and may go untreated, at least
initially.
One use for the terminals is to provide health advice for
holidaymakers who cannot visit their own GP and popular attractions
at resorts, such as Blackpool's Pleasure Beach, have been
targeted.
Health minister Gisela Stuart said, "The touch-screen terminals
are another key element in modernising the NHS. NHS Direct, the
24-hour nurse-led telephone advice line, has already been a huge
success and has provided invaluable healthcare information and
advice to more than three million callers since its launch. NHS
Direct On-line is also very successful and popular with more than
100,000 hits a day."
The technical development of the Web site was done by iXL, whose
previous work includes the Comic Relief and Web MD sites. The site
is hosted by UUnet.
Although there is only one Welsh kiosk at present, there are
plans to produce a specialised, dual-language version of NHS Direct
for the region. The initial phase of providing a country-wide
telephone-based advice line is currently awaiting the go-ahead.