DOZENS of nursing jobs are at risk under Government plans to scrap medical helpline NHS Direct, according to union leaders.

Around 50 nurses staff telephone lines in Stafford and Nantwich – two of the service's 34 bases nationwide.

But the Department of Health has revealed NHS Direct, which provides advice to 27,000 people a day, is to be replaced by the new non-emergency number 111.

The proposed system, which is currently on trial, would mean callers were no longer guaranteed being advised by a qualified registered nurse as call-minders pick up the phones.

NHS Direct chief executive Nick Chapman has claimed the change is designed to build on and improve the service.

But unions have criticised the proposals as being a short-sighted way of cutting back on expertise.

Regional officials from the Royal College of Nursing said it was worrying for their members working at Staffordshire Technology Park in Stafford and Barony Road, Nantwich.

West Midlands communications officer Tim Baggs said: "The service has become very highly valued among the public and it is the nurses who have been instrumental in making it a success.

"They have constantly been putting the minds of callers at rest or advising them when they need urgent treatment.

"On the back of that advice, 1.5 million people a year have been helped without the need to visit hospital A&E departments – and that has accrued savings totalling £200 million a year."

Mr Baggs said unions did not yet know the details yet of the plans.

But he added: "It would appear short-sighted to be cutting back on the expertise in delivering such a service together with that magnitude of savings.

"The jobs of the people providing that expertise from regional centres could now be at risk."

NHS Direct was also defended by Stoke-on-Trent South MP Rob Flello, pictured below, who said it had helped calm parents' worries over the Bank Holiday weekend when there were two cases of meningitis at Meir Park day nursery.

He added: "It is at times like this that the service really comes into its own, giving patients first-class advice on whether they just need an aspirin or to go to hospital urgently.

"Not only does the service save money, it also saves lives.

"This plan is driven by the need to make cuts for ideological, not deficit, reasons by the Government."

Mr Chapman said ministers had made it clear that any change would take until 2012 or 2013.

He added: "I want to correct any misleading impression of NHS Direct as an organisation being closed down.

"This is not what the Government has said and there is no reason for anyone to be fearful for their job.

"Decisions on how the new NHS 111 service will be commissioned and how it will be provided in the future have yet to be made."