Nhs Direct

Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the locations of NHS Direct sites. [127641]

The location and geographical coverage of the 22 NHS Direct sites are laid out in the table.

NHS Direct site	Organisational model	Geographical coverage
Thames Valley and Northamptonshire	Hub—Thames Valley and Northamptonshire. No spoke as yet	Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire
West Country	Hub—Exeter. Spokes (4)—Truro, Plymouth, Taunton (Somerset), St Leonard's (Dorset)	Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset
West London	Single call centre—Middlesex	Hillingdon, Brent and Harrow, Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow
West Yorkshire	Single call centre—Wakefield	Calderdale and Kirklees, Leeds Bradford, Wakefield and North Yorkshire

Notes:

1. Hub and Spoke—A spoke is a small call centre environment (approximately up to 10 seats) which relies on technology sited at a remotely connected site. The management team and technology is located at the main "Hub" site.

2. Planet and Satellites—A satellite is a small call centre environment (approximately up to 10 seats) which relies on technology sited at a remotely connected site. The management team and technology is located at the main "Planet" site.

3. Call Centre—A call centre is a structured environment specifically set up to manage incoming/outgoing calls from a single location.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls NHS Direct has received in each year since 1998. [130372]

The table shows how many calls have been made to NHS Direct since its launch in March 1998.

Financial Year	Total calls handled	Accumulative total calls
1998–99	110,000	110,000
1999–2000	1,650,000	1,760,000
2000–01	3,420,000	5,180,000
2001–02	5,213,062	10,393,062
2002–03	6,318,844	16,711,906
2003 to 31 August 2004	2,173,005	18,884,911

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the most recent vacancy rates were for staff at each NHS Direct site. [131035]

Information collected centrally on the most recent vacancy rates for call handlers and nurses at each NHS Direct site is shown in the tables.

Funded establishment against staff in post for the period of August 2003 (whole time equivalent)
Nurses	Funded establishment	Staff in post	Shortfall (+) Surplus (-)
Anglia	42	38.8	3.2
Avon	50	46.9	3.1
Beds and Herts	50	43.6	6.4
Birmingham, Black Country and Solihull	50	47.9	2.1
East Midlands	74	67.4	6.6
Essex	52	48.0	4
Manchester, Cheshire and Wirral	80	82.8	-2.8
Hampshire	55	54.5	0.5
KSS	72	62.2	9.8
Midlandshires	58	57.7	0.3
NC London	33	23.1	9.9
North East	60	55.7	4.3
NE London	25	22.4	2.6
NW Coast	70	69.3	0.7
SE London	37	26.4	10.6
SW London	31	23.9	7.1
South Yorkshire and South Humber	42	43.6	-1.6
Tees. East and North Yorkshire	36	33.5	2.5
Thames Valley	54	45.8	8.2
West Country	64.98	61.3	3.68
West London	41	40.0	1
West Yorkshire	60	54.2	5.8

Funded establishment against staff in post for the period of August 2003 (whole time equivalent)
Call Handlers	Funded establishment	Staff in post	Shortfall (+) Surplus (-)
Anglia	15.22	15.22	0
Avon	33	30.41	2.59
Beds and Herts	24	25.17	-1.17
Birmingham. Black Country and Solihull	25	26.79	-1.79
East Midlands	40	32.72	7.28
Essex	27	24	3
Hampshire	20	14.6	5.4
KSS	30	25.94	4.06
Manchester, Cheshire and Wirral	40	37.88	2.12
Midlandshires	32	32.72	-0.72
NC London	16	14.94	1.06
North East	31	27.12	3.88
NE London	18	16.5	1.5
NW Coast	35	22.1	12.9
SE London	22	23.25	-1.25
SW London	15	12.3	2.7
South Yorkshire and South Humber	29	26.6	2.4
Tees East and North Yorkshire	17	16.05	0.95
Thames Valley	18	19.88	-1.88
West Country	30	27.55	2.45
West London	27	21.6	5.4
West Yorkshire	30	26.6	3.4

Volume 410: debated on Friday 19 September 2003