NHS 24 is the name of a confidential health advice and information service provided by NHS Scotland. It is the equivalent to the NHS Direct scheme in England and NHS Direct Wales, allowing people who feel unwell or those caring for them to obtain advice if it is not convenient or possible to wait until they can visit their General Practitioner when the practice is next open. It is not intended as a substitute for obtaining an emergency ambulance service via 999.

The service can be used in more than one way:-

This enables a diagnosis to be made without assistance by answering a series of questions after accessing the main http://www.nhs24.com web page and selecting the NHS Self-help guide option. Users will be given one of three final results :-

The Internet service also provides access to an NHS Health Encyclopaedia which gives information on illnesses, conditions, tests and treatment and to Pharmacy Opening Times throughout Scotland.

The internet information is used under licence from the UK Department of Health and is based on (thus not necessarily identical to) the content displayed by the English service NHS Direct.