What happens when I telephone the NPIS 0844 892 0111 helpline?

 This service is only available to NHS professionals, and is manned 24 hours a day 365 days a year by trained NPIS Poisons Information Specialists. Calls are routed to the most appropriate UK NPIS Unit according to geographic location and availability of a telephone line that is not engaged. Details of enquiries are stored for clinical governance purposes and recorded within confidential case record databases held by the NPIS. Such a record is important in order that the management of poisoning in the United Kingdom can be improved, based on the experience of the NHS as a whole.

If deemed necessary, further direct consultation can occur with an experienced NPIS consultant clinical toxicologist who will be participating in the UK NPIS national consultant on-call rota. All Clinical Toxicologists working for the NPIS have day-to-day experience of managing cases of acute poisoning in NHS clinical units associated with NPIS centres. NPIS consultants are themselves directly responsible for managing in excess of 6,000 cases of poisoning per annum, and therefore have a large clinical experience to draw on when answering questions.