11:59am Wednesday 1st September 2010
A PETITION against proposals to scrap an NHS helpline has been backed by Pendle Labour supporters.
Councillors and campaigners are concerned about the Government’s decision to axe the NHS Direct advice service.
The service, providing advice to 27,000 people a day, is to be replaced by the new non-emergency number, 111.
But critics have voiced concern that members of the public would no longer be able to speak to nurses with degrees but only call-handlers who have "passed a 60-hour medical course".
Coun Mohammed Iqbal, Pendle Labour group leader, said: “Since its introduction in 2000, millions of people across the country have used NHS Direct.
“Unfortunately, this Government seems hell-bent on destroying anything introduced by the last Labour Government.”
He has called on Pendle's Tory MP Andrew Stephenson and local Liberal Democrat peer Lord Greaves to oppose the move.
But Mr Stephenson said the helpline would be replaced by a new 111 ‘urgent care’ phone number.
And he added Labour had closed Burnley General’s A&E so the party had a ‘cheek’ to protest about NHS cuts.
The Department of Health said "many" of the services offered by NHS Direct "may be subsumed" by the 111 service, which provides health advice and information about out-of-hours GPs, walk-in centres, emergency dentists and 24-hour chemists.
The petition is online at savenhsdirect.co.uk.
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