Almost one year from the announcement of lockdown in March 2020, NHS 24 are taking time to acknowledge the work of their colleagues during what has been their busiest period to date.
Across 2020, the 111 service received 1,699,796 calls, seeing a huge increase in volumes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steph Phillips, Director of Service Delivery, said: “This year has been tough for everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all, NHS staff included. From early 2020 we saw an increase in our call volumes and on our busiest day (Saturday 14th March) we received 13,849 calls in one day.
“Each call to the service represents a patient who needs support or advice, and our amazing staff have continued to work hard throughout this difficult period to provide this support for the people of Scotland. We also hit another remarkable milestone in December, as 111 received its 25 millionth call since the service launched in 2001!
“We’ve also seen a huge increase in the use of our digital service, NHS inform, which has hosted information about COVID-19, testing and vaccination throughout the past year.
‘Vaccination for COVID-19 is well underway which is great news for everyone, however we still advise caution and to follow government guidance in your area.
“All up to date information is available on our NHS Inform page- www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus.
“This has everything you need to know on symptoms, booking a test, what to do if symptoms worsen, and information on the vaccine.”
You can call NHS 24 via 111 for help with symptoms when your GP is unavailable.
You can also find the information you need to manage your symptoms via www.nhsinform.scot, Scotland’s trusted health information site