Oral Answers to Questions — NHS Direct

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 2 March 1999.

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Photo of Frank Dobson Frank Dobson The Secretary of State for Health 12:00, 2 March 1999

All that I can say—if it is not out of order, Madam Speaker—is that it seems rather empty-headed to have listened to a statement about a 24-hour helpline and concluded that its extension would not cover a 24-hour period. That is what it will do. I emphasise that I did not provoke or encourage the scheme in Northumberland: the proposal came from the Northumbria ambulance service, the local health information service and Northern Doctors Urgent Care—a GP co-operative which provides services in that area. Those bodies want to go ahead and pilot the scheme and, if it works, I have no doubt that other doctors and people elsewhere in the country will want to introduce similar schemes. We are conducting a pilot scheme to see whether the proposal will work, but it will not prevent people in Northumberland from ringing their own doctors.