NHS Direct offers eggs-tra support this Easter

NHS Direct is encouraging patients to use its suite of online health and symptom checkers to help them get prompt health advice over the coming bank holidays.

Available at nhs.uk/nhsdirect, NHS Direct's health and symptom checkers can help patients to access advice on specific symptoms, such as dental pain, diarrhoea and vomiting or abdominal pain, or find ways to relieve symptoms associated with specific problems, such as hay fever or colds and flu. There's also the opportunity to get more specialist advice on issues such as mental health, contraception or sexual health matters.

The health and symptom checkers give patients the opportunity to self-assess their symptoms and get quick advice. They have been developed in line with the same protocols used by NHS Direct's telephone advisors so patients get a similar experience whether they use the phone or the web.

The tools work by asking the user a series of questions about themselves and the symptoms they are experiencing, such as the length of time they've had them. Depending on the information provided, users may be given self-care advice, so that they can treat their symptoms at home, or the tool may suggest that further advice is sought from another health provider such as a pharmacist. If a further assessment is recommended a call-back from an NHS Direct nurse advisor will be arranged.

Since the beginning of the year the health and symptom checkers have been used over two million times. They are particularly helpful for patients when the telephone service is busiest and over the Christmas period more people used the symptom checkers than called the helpline for the first time.

Tricia Hamilton, Chief Nurse at NHS Direct, said: "Bank holidays are always a busy time for us, and with the proximity of the four day Easter weekend and the royal wedding/May bank holiday weekend, we are expecting an increased demand for our services. Our online symptom checkers provide patients with another way of contacting us, making the service more flexible and easily accessible to more patients. Patients can be assured that they will receive the same quality of advice that they have come to expect from the telephone service when they access our services online."