Healthline is $35 per call

Taxpayers are paying $35 for every call made to a Government-funded health advice phone line, making it almost as expensive as a doctor's consultation.

But the 24-hour Healthline service has faced 132 complaints in the past year about the quality of medical advice given by the registered nurses who staff it.

It cost more than $12 million to run during that period.

The service came under fire last year following a coroner's report into the death of Petone toddler Rhys Neti Foaese in 2008 after his mother called Healthline four times.

The boy had an undiagnosed congenital condition, and died of shock and haemorrhaging after severe vomiting.

Dr Sandy Dawson, the Health Ministry's chief adviser for clinical services development, said the company contracted to run the service had responded to concerns and repeat callers were now treated with greater urgency.

That company - McKesson - was expected to provide coaching to any nurse who was the subject of a substantiated complaint, or to launch a review of the phone line's processes.

Details released under an Official Information Act request show 132 complaints or negative feedback were received about the service in the year to March.

Healthline nurses answered 360,161 calls during that time - almost 1000 a day.

More than 7600 calls were patched through to the 111 emergency line, and about 48,000 people were advised to go to the emergency department or their doctor immediately.

Dawson said Healthline was based on similar services provided overseas.

"Healthline provides a reassuring voice of a trained health professional giving invaluable advice day and night," she said.

The ministry was satisfied Healthline was good value for money and costs reflected the market price for telephone triage services, he added.

Dr Mark Peterson, the New Zealand Medical Association GP council chairman, said the service was valuable but wasn't working as well as it could.

"The theory is good, the practice is less effective than maybe it could be."

A spokeswoman for McKesson said she had nothing to add to the Ministry's comments.