NHS Direct is a 24-hour nurse advice and health information telephone service. It has been operating since April 1998. The first three call centres were in Milton Keynes, Preston and Newcastle. By October 2000, NHS Direct had been rolled out and covered all areas of England and Wales.

NHS Direct is a key strand to the NHS Information Strategy's intentions to improve public access to healthcare information. In addition, this strategy considered the development of different ways by which NHS Direct information could be accessed including NHS Direct Online, internet gateway, NHS Direct Digital and public information kiosks.

In April 2002, NHS Direct will use NHSnet (the NHS Intranet) to link all its call centres across the country - thus providing a virtual national call centre.

Future plans include links with other public services to provide a one-stop access point for information, advice and where necessary face to face consultations, including Out of Hours services, dentists and pharmacists.