Teenagers answering 111 calls

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Daily Mail link

They are also often very bright, clear headed, have bags of energy especially fir nightshifts and have the same level of understanding as more mature colleagues.

They run algorithms based on symptoms. Same as every other call handler.

I wouldn't be shocked by an 18/19 year old on minimum wage being employed in a call centre, although you'd hope that they received appropriate training before being set lose on a member of the public.

Putting a untrained minor on the end of the phone is another matter though. As I said above it's been suggested that one of these young people put someone with stroke symptoms on hold. Should we put that degree of responsibility on someone we don't even consider responsible enough to cast a vote?

Not all 111 services are private - quite a few areas have the 111 service run by the ambulance service which is an NHS organisation.

The one that the Daily Mail are constantly criticising happens to be a private organisation but they just ignore this fact as it doesn't suit their agenda.

each nhs trust does contract out the 111 service to a different provider - some run by ambulance centres, some by private organisations. the 111 service for cornwall is by a completely different company to the one run by Hertfordshire for example. each service provider has to compete for each contact. so don't think one bad 111 means every 111 service is bad.
17 year olds are allowed, legally, to work full time in the UK. a 111 service cannot refuse to hire a 17year old based on their age just like they couldn't refuse to hire a 60 year old. it is age discrimination.
if at 16, you can join the army and fight for the country, I'm sure you can manage to answer the phone and tell someone where their nearest pharmacist is

well, I agree that the 111 service seems to be worryingly staffed if they are employing inexperienced young or poorly trained staff,
THAT SHOULD NOT happen.
but the 111 service does do some good work too - for example
I had cause to use the service recently for a student who had tried to sign on with a GP Surgery but was repeatedly refused by several surgeries. The student rang 111 and they helped very efficiently - and it was a contrast to the staff at the GP Surgeries who had seemed to believe that their primary job was to prevent people getting to see a GP.

Standard DM bogeyman - trying to make the NHS look bad so that Our Gracious Leader can claim it's "not fit for purpose" when Gideon sells off the rest of it.

I've worked in pharmacy since I was 17, giving out medical advice under the supervision of a pharmacist. I'm sure these teenagers are also supervised by someone suitably trained

16 year olds can join the army, or work as a care assistant. They can join the police or train to be a paramedic at 18, so I don't really see the problem with them reading through a list of set questions and typing the answers into a computer. My 12 year old could do that without difficulty.