NHS 24 is Scotland's national telehealth and telecare organisation. This special health board runs a telephone advice and triage service that can be accessed by calling 111. The service allows people who feel unwell or those caring for them to obtain health advice and information if it is not convenient or possible to wait until they can visit their general practitioner when the practice is next open. The advice line is not intended as a substitute for obtaining an emergency ambulance service via 999. The telehealth services provided by NHS Scotland fulfil some similar functions to NHS Direct Wales and the NHS 111 scheme in England.

The service can be used in more than one way:

This enables advice to be obtained without a consultation by answering a series of questions after accessing the main NHS24 website and selecting the "NHS Self-help guide" option. Users will be given one of three final recommendations:

Since 2005, the NHS 24 online service has included access to information from a "NHS Health Encyclopaedia", giving information on illnesses, conditions, tests and treatment and to pharmacy opening times throughout Scotland. Some information that is made available via this internet service is used under licence from the UK Department of Health. All health information is from governed sources. To reflect the healthcare needs of the Scottish population NHS 24 work with individuals, groups and organisations from different areas of health and social care policy and practice in Scotland.

The normal telephone number, 111, is for most callers who are able to use a telephone without difficulty. This number is free to call from mobile phones as well as landlines, and was adopted across Scotland in April 2014 to replace the old number, 08454 24 24 24, which has been phased out. A translation service is provided for a number of languages for which leaflets are issued which instruct callers to tell the NHS 24 staff "I am [nationality described in English], I do not speak English.". There is also a Textphone number.

Trained call handlers triage patients according to outcomes to a set of questions. If the service is busy, lower-priority calls will be placed in a clinical queue which is monitored. Depending on the triage outcome, callers will be called back within one, two or four hours. Callers are always told to call back if their condition worsens. During particularly busy times, callers are always told in a recorded message how long they will expect to wait before their call is answered.

At the end of the consultation, NHS 24 will contact the Scottish Ambulance Service if an emergency response is necessary.

Instructions for use of the service by people who do not speak English are available.