A WISE old bird is celebrating the flying success of a health service awareness campaign.

The Dr Wisely cartoon owl fronted the Out of Hours service, which was launched exactly a year ago.

The feathery character is reminding the Teesside public of the Out of Hours services available, the contact numbers to use and which service would be most appropriate.

The campaign was launched ahead of the Easter break after the main urgent care service, provided by Primecare, was severely stretched over the Christmas and New Year Holidays.

Although Primecare coped with the festive rush, the service was hampered with inappropriate calls that could have been dealt with quicker if the patients had used NHS Direct, or remembered that repeat prescriptions should not be requested through the service.

The figures for the four-day Easter break show that Primecare handled more than 5,600 calls from across the area, of which there were nearly 4,900 "clinical episodes" - where a nurse or doctor was involved.

However almost 350 callers (six per cent) did not need urgent medical attention.

These "inquiry calls" obviously had a negative effect on the efficiency of Primecare's Out of Hours service, said Rob Stark, area service delivery manager for Primecare in the North-East.

Mr Stark said: "I feel pleased with the service delivery, performance wise, over a very busy four-day bank holiday. I think this demonstrates that the media campaign was effective in directing patients to appropriate care."

The Dr Wisely campaign will soon be on buses and bus shelters as the campaign to inform patients steps up a gear.