A NON-EMERGENCY NHS service has reached a significant milestone with its 250,000th call recorded last week.

The NHS 111 (West Midlands) service reached a significant milestone in the early hours of Friday, the 250,000th since West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) stepped in as providers.

WMAS took over the running of the service on November 11 last year after previous providers NHS Direct decided to step out of their contract.

Of the 250,000 calls answered, approximately 97 per cent have been answered within 60 seconds against a national target of 95 per cent.

On an increasing number of occasions the staff answer 100 per cent of calls within 60 seconds.

NHS 111 Training Lead Teresa Beresford said: “Reaching 250,000 calls is an important landmark for us and we now look forward to successfully reaching further milestones as the service continues to progress."