The NHS 111 online service has been used over one million times since it started nearly 18 months ago according to NHS Digital.

The latest figures revealed that 13% of all NHS 111 online enquiries culminate in self care advice while 48% and 25% are directed to primary care and 999 or accident and emergency respectively.

NHS Digital also said that over 7% of enquiries “are given other treatment dispositions including speaking to a pharmacist.”

More than 4,000 pharmacies in England manage NHS 111 requests for urgent medicine supply through the NHS urgent medicine supply advanced service.

Abdominal pain and dental problems were the most common reasons for NHS 111 calls and women were more than twice as likely than men to use the service which had an average user age of 30.

“This is a significant milestone for the programme and shows how the service is helping so many patients across England,” said Debbie Floyd, head of NHS 111 online at NHS Digital.

“It’s great to see so many people using the service and the different clinical pathways that patients can access.”

Picture: Georgijevic (iStock)