Nurses at the national telephone helpline NHS Direct take too long to answer calls with many patients forced to wait more than 30 minutes for medical advice, according to MPs.

The Commons public accounts committee has called on the helpline to improve its response times and to make changes to ensure nurses can handle enquiries.

In a report published Wednesday, MPs also urged further work to determine whether the helpline is value for money and whether it is having a positive impact on the NHS.

Far too many callers are having to wait more than 30 minutes to speak to a nurse

Edward Leigh MP

The report concluded that overall the helpline is popular with patients and has a good safety record.

Surveys have shown that on average 90% of callers are satisfied with the service.

However, MPs said more needed to be done to encourage people from ethnic minorities and those living in socially deprived areas to use the service.

A report by the National Audit Office, published in January, also highlighted this issue.

MPs called for a clear employment strategy to be drawn up to assure NHS hospitals that the helpline was not trying to poach nursing staff.

Long waits

The committee criticised the length of time it took nurses to respond to patient enquiries.

The report stated: "Callers are currently waiting too long to speak to a nurse."

The report also suggested that more needed to be done to spread the workload between NHS Direct call centres, saying some had much higher call levels than others.

The Department of Health is working on a new computer system which will enable calls to be transferred to less busy centres when demand is high.

It also recommended changes to the way staff are rostered at call centres to ensure they can cope with any surges in demand.

MPs praised the introduction of the service and said it was now the world's largest provider of telephone healthcare advice, receiving 5.3m calls last year.

Value for money?

But they suggested that further research is needed to determine whether the service is cost-effective and to see how it is affecting the rest of the NHS.

It is too soon to measure the impact of the service on the NHS as a whole

Dr John Chisholm, BMA

There have been suggestions that the helpline has led to an increase in the number of people calling 999 and the numbers turning up at A&E departments.

There are also concerns over its cost, estimated at �80m last year.

The report concluded: "It is too soon to measure the impact of NHS Direct on the NHS as a whole.

"The evidence so far suggests that NHS Direct has the potential to save costs by re-directing callers to more appropriate forms of care.

"NHS Direct should take forward evaluation of the costs and benefits of the service, relative to possible alternative uses of those NHS resources."

Edward Leigh, Conservative MP and committee chairman, said: "The way this large and innovative new service was introduced is impressive and the people who use it clearly like it.

"But there are vast differences in productivity levels between call centres and far too many callers are having to wait more than 30 minutes to speak to a nurse."

The Department of Health welcomed the report but said nurses speak to a vast majority of patients within 30 minutes.

A spokesman said: "Nearly 60% of callers who need to speak to a nurse do so within five minutes and over 82% do so within 30 minutes."

Dr John Chisholm, of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said: "NHS Direct has proved very popular with the public, although it is too soon to measure the impact of the service on the NHS as a whole.

"We support the proposals for continuing evaluation of the costs and benefits of the service and for coordinated action to minimise the impact of its nurse recruitment on organisations elsewhere in the NHS."

Mark Jones, of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Whilst the report has identified problems with the uniformity of service provision and waiting times, the level of patient satisfaction service is extremely high."