Vhi Healthcare nurseline takes 67,000 calls last year

VHI HEALTHCARE’S NurseLine service fielded more than 67,000 calls from customers worried about their health last year.

The service provides 24 hour access to qualified nurses by phone and is available exclusively to Vhi Healthcare customers. Nurseline was launched 11 years ago. Customers in Dublin placed the most calls, nearly 20,000 over the course of the year, and the top medical concerns from parents included queries about vomiting, diarrhoea, high temperatures and rashes.

Vhi NurseLine’s pregnancy support service was popular with nearly 6,000 calls received and nearly 5,000 calls were made by new mums who had just had their baby. The Vhi NurseLine midwives answered nearly 600 email queries and the nurses received approximately 1,100 general medical queries by email.

The figures were released to coincide with the announcement that Vhi Healthcare will host free parenting seminars nationwide, given by parenting expert and clinical psychologist David Coleman (presenter of RTÉ series Teens in the Wild and Families in Trouble). Targeted at parents of children in primary school, the seminars will provide down-to-earth, practical advice and examples of how parents can build closer relationships with their children. The events are part of Vhi Healthcare’s continued commitment to providing access to information and expert advice for its members and follow on from the seminars run by Vhi Healthcare in partnership with David Coleman in 2010.

The Vhi parenting seminars will take place in four locations nationwide:

Galway: March 10 — Radisson Hotel. Waterford: March 24 — Tower Hotel. Dundalk: April 5 — Crowne Plaza. Dublin: April 14 — Bewley’s Hotel, Ballsbridge.