A new medical telephone service for people who need urgent medical help or advice but who are not in a life-threatening situation has been launched in Cambridgeshire.

NHS 111 will make it easier for residents to access local health services, advice and information.

The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and calls from landlines and mobile phones are free. You should call 111 if it’s not a 999 emergency, you think you need to go to A&E or another NHS urgent care service, you don’t think you can wait for an appointment with your GP or you don’t know who to call for medical help.

For immediate, life-threatening emergencies, people should continue to call 999, while you should call your GP for non-urgent medical advice.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group’s clinical lead for NHS 111, Dr Andrew Anderson, said: “NHS 111 is a fast and easy way to get the right help – whatever your need, wherever you are and whatever the time.

“Anyone needing medical help fast, but who doesn’t know where to go should call 111 as the service will give the caller peace of mind that they have contacted the right service.

“If NHS 111 advisers think the caller needs an ambulance, one will be dispatched.”

Herts urgent care chief executive, David Archer, added: “111 will get the caller through to a team of fully trained call advisers, who will ask questions to assess the caller’s symptoms, and give them the healthcare advice they need or direct them to the right local service depending on each person’s illness or injury.

“The staff have undergone intensive training and rigorous testing and many have observed the live system in Hertfordshire.

“NHS 111 is a fast and easy way to get the right medical help – whatever is needed.”