NHS 111

NHS 111 is a telephone service for non-emergency medical advice. Many ambulance services employ the staff who answer 111 calls. 
The service was started in England in February 2014. There are similar services in Wales and Scotland, using the same number. It is available 24 hours a day, every day. It replaced NHS Direct (08454647) which was run by nurses. 111 is run by call handlers using a clinical decision support system. They have access to nurses and general practitioners.
They can arrange appointments with general practitioners, out-of-hours services and emergency departments. In some cases, an ambulance may be sent to a 111 call if it is found to be more serious than expected.
111 online gives people access to a triage system using NHS Pathways algorithms. Children under 5 are not to use it.
During the alarm over Streptococcal pharyngitis in December 2022 the service struggled to deal with the number of calls. On 3 December there were 95,000 calls, but 37% were not answered.