Northerner
Admin (Retired)
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- Type 1
The NHS Direct Wales helpline is turned off occasionally as its nurses deal with 999 calls instead, a health union claims.
Unison says the service is being "compromised" as staff prioritise non-life threatening calls that are transferred from the ambulance service.
It fears delays in getting through to the 24-hour phone line mean people may go straight to A&E or ignore symptoms.
But the ambulance service running the hotline insists it is always available.
The claims come at the end of a week in which "unprecedented" levels of hospital admissions led to ambulances queuing outside accident and emergency departments across Wales.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21806605
Unison says the service is being "compromised" as staff prioritise non-life threatening calls that are transferred from the ambulance service.
It fears delays in getting through to the 24-hour phone line mean people may go straight to A&E or ignore symptoms.
But the ambulance service running the hotline insists it is always available.
The claims come at the end of a week in which "unprecedented" levels of hospital admissions led to ambulances queuing outside accident and emergency departments across Wales.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21806605