HC Deb 29 March 1994 vol 240 cc701-2W
Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 7 March,Official Report, column 54, what action has been taken by each of Scotland's health boards to publicise the operation of the NHS helpline; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Stewart

Since the NHS helpline came into operation in October 1992 expenditure on administration of the service totals £227,566 and expenditure on publicity totals £98,748.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 7 March,Official Report, column 54, what assessment he has made of the calls to the NHS helpline; what procedure was adopted by his office in establishing its helpline; how many people are employed to deal with the calls; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Stewart

The NHS in Scotland management executive receives monthly monitoring reports and quarterly customer satisfaction survey reports from Network Scotland which operates the NHS helpline on a contractual basis. These give details of the number and subjects of the calls received and an indication of customer satisfaction with the service.

Tenders were invited for the setting up and running of the service from a number of organisations and the contract was awarded to Network Scotland. A project supervisor and up to four part-time operators are employed by Network Scotland in work relating to the NHS helpline.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 7 March,Official Report, column 54, how much his office has spent (a) administering and (b) publicising the operation of its NHS helpline; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Stewart

All health boards in Scotland, and their provider units, publicise the NHS helpline telephone number and information about the service provided in a variety of ways. These include the provision of information in health board literature, local health charters, patient information leaflets, notice board information in public areas of health board premises and distribution of the NHS helpline poster.