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The NHS telephone advice line, NHS Direct, received a record number of calls over the Christmas weekend, figures have revealed.
The volume of calls between December 24 and December 27 was up five per cent on last year, while traffic on the NHS Direct website increased by 32 per cent on a year ago.
Call centre reports have revealed that the top three symptoms reported by callers were abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, while sore throats, coughs, earache, toothache, fever and chest pain were also common complaints.
NHS Direct call centres handled 103, 086 calls over the four day break, while the website had 74,881 hits.
Mike Sadler, medical director for the service, said demand peaked on Tuesday morning as it appeared many patients were not aware that GP surgeries were closed and had turned to NHS Direct when they realised they would not get an appointment.
A spokeswoman for the helpline said the most noticeable change had been the shift of traffic towards the website.
"We have been trying to encourage people to visit the website first. It's full of useful medical information. After reading that patients can make a phone call if they think the condition is urgent," she said.
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