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NHS: Internet

Volume 474: debated on Wednesday 26 March 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pages of content are available on the NHS Direct website; what the cost of operating the NHS Direct website was in 2007; and how many unique visitors to the NHS Direct website there were in each month between June 2007 and February 2008. (195805)

The NHS Direct website contains 14,567 unique pages of content. Additionally there are six health tools, 42 self-help guides, and 12 videos.

The total cost of the team of dedicated content authors and editors that work on the NHS Direct website was £212,000 in 2007.

The total number of unique visitors to the NHS Direct website for each month between June 2007 and February 2008 is shown in the following table.

Number of unique visitors

June 2007

1,426,991

July 2007

1,528,356

August 2007

1,947,373

September 2007

1,929,542

October 2007

2,324,815

November 2007

2,390,630

December 2007

2,174,692

January 2008

2,905,369

February 2008

2,654,651

Over the next year NHS Direct will be working with colleagues at NHS Choices to provide a more integrated health information service for the public. The aim is to not only make online delivery more efficient and effective for government, but also, more importantly, improve the public's experience of health service provision via the internet, phone or television.