The service's call centres have been under pressure

NHS 24 director George Crooks said it had improved following a highly critical report in June which cited staff shortages and long waiting times.

Five new dispersal centres are also being set up across Scotland to take re-routed calls from the main bases.

Mr Crooks said the service aimed to answer 90% of its calls within 30 seconds.

The service will recruit 16 extra nurse advisers to its existing sites in Aberdeen, South Queensferry and Clydebank and 91 staff at the new dispersal centres in Inverness, Dundee, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

We have recruited significant numbers of call handlers so that patients have their call answered within a reasonable period of time George Crooks NHS 24

Eight pharmacists will join NHS 24 in December and 323 staff will be available to cope with demand over the festive period, the service said.

Mr Crooks said he was confident the recruitment drive would prove successful.

"We have recruited significant numbers of call handlers so that patients have their call answered within a reasonable period of time," he said.

"We want 90% of the calls answered within 30 seconds and we are confident that access to the service is improving.

"We are putting arrangements in place so that if patients are having to wait for a period of time that is deemed unacceptable for their condition then we can push these calls through to the GP out-of-hours service."

Medical history

Mr Crooks said that although the call handlers were not nurses or doctors, they had been trained to take people's medical histories and act when required.

"We are not saying that call handlers become mini-doctors, that is never going to be the case," he said.

"In GP surgeries there are receptionists who ask if you need an appointment and what happens in-hours will also work out-of-hours.

"We are trying to ensure that the support that we put in place identifies the one or two individuals who are seriously ill because the majority of people who phone are not at death's door and that is the reality of the situation.

"We are working with our staff to ensure that we reduce that risk to the bare minimum."