As most people are aware - we tend to refer to NHS Direct as NHS MisDirect or NHS ReDirect. I would rarely advise someone with the most minor of illnesses or injuries to ring them. The first person to answer to call - as I understand it - is a NON-CLINICAL call-handler. If the patient will not wait to be interrogated by a CLINICALLY-TRAINED Nurse Advisor, they generally recommend an ambulance. This means that a call from the same patient which comes into LAS as "25 year old male with cough and runny nose for five days - advised to ring 999 by NHSD" cannot be redirected to Clinical Telephone Advice, and needs an amb, because "NHSD TOLD ME TO RING". In my opinion, a useless waste of money. [Oh - this is especially the case when the ambulance crew tell said Twat that he will spend some 4-5 hours in casualty, and he then refuses conveyance, and gets US to arrange an OOH GP for him]. Pointless exercise all round.