Prior to the NHS 111 service that this article mentions they offered a helpline called NHS Direct. This was staffed by trained medical staff. It was excellent.

Prior to the NHS 111 service that this article mentions they offered a helpline called NHS Direct. This was staffed by trained medical staff. It was excellent. They were able to assess issues and escalate them as appropriate. So, if you had a non-emergency issue (I.e the person isn't dying right now, but appears to be critically ill) you could call the number and get real advice. With 111 you are put on the line with in-trained call center staff who walk you through there a set of questions programmed into their knowledge system, they don't understand the questions, they can't help in any way. Answer the questions "right" you get escalated to an on call doctor who rings you back after about 5 hours in my experience. This is not good. In the situations I've needed it, I've found it extremely distressing. I expect this system to give users access to the same system the call center staff are using, and to be similarly unhelpful.