[Toxicologic information center's hotline--well-received and cost-effective for the society]

Our evaluation using postal and interview surveys suggests that the telephone hotline service at the Swedish Poisons Information Centre ('Giftinformationscentralen') may be cost-effective for society. Advice to physicians--which was highly regarded for its speed, competence and applicability--was time-saving and facilitated better treatment. Similarly, advice direct to households eliminated many unnecessary emergency visits. Indeed, we found that the annual costs of running the centre can be completely offset by savings in health care resources. Improved outcomes, time savings for individual households, and reduced uncertainty for both households and health care staff provide additional benefits.