Scottish NHS alert line gets calls from elswhere in UK

More than a third of calls to a confidential phone line which allows health workers in Scotland to raise concerns about NHS practices have come from other parts of the UK.

The National Confidential Alert Line has received 53 calls since its launch last month.

Of those, 19 were from NHS workers in other parts of the UK, with the rest from staff in ­Scotland.

Among the calls from within Scotland, 23 were of people anonymously raising concern about practices in the NHS.

Health secretary Alex Neil said: “It is vitally important that NHS workers feel that they can raise any concerns.”