Nottingham leads the way with a new 3 digit health number

There has much reporting in the media recently over the abuse of the UK's long standing emergency number 999. Many trivial calls are made to the 999 service which can clog up the telecoms systems and make it harder for people with genuine emergencies to get the extra fast connection time they may need.

The population of Nottingham now have an alternative to dialling 999. Managers at the NHS hope that the new 111 number will deter the public from calling 999 or visiting the casualty departments of local hospitals if they need advice on non-life threatening situations.

"The 111 service is intended to be a halfway house between 999 and NHS Direct the latter of which was set up to give information and advice on less serious medical problems." commented David Clarke of DBS Telecoms