Migrants man Swine Flu helpline

[Beorn]

IMMIGRANTS who can barely speak English will be used to man the phones at emergency swine flu call centres, it was revealed yesterday.

As ministers prepare to launch a virus hotline this week, staff at the centres last night laid bare the chaos behind the preparations.
They said hundreds of people with few English language skills and no medical training will join the 1,500 team taking calls from the public.
Paid the minimum wage of just under £6 an hour, one worker branded the selection process and the lack of training “a complete joke”.
An insider involved in recruiting staff claimed hundreds of immigrants were being signed up to offer a swine flu diagnosis to the public because the posts had to be filled quickly.
The source said they would only be given very brief training, adding: “If it wasn’t for a serious reason, it would be so funny. It’s a nightmare. A lot of immigrants, hundreds of them, are applying who can hardly talk any English but because we’re desperate to find a lot of people in such a short amount of time we’re taking them on.
“As long as they can provide proof of their date of birth, they can get through the recruitment process. When I speak to them on the phone they can barely understand what I’m saying and even those who can speak English are very difficult to understand.
“It seems we’re just going to recruit as many as possible to reach the target of 1,500 before the end of this week.
“The saddest and silliest aspect of the recruitment process is that the Job Centres say they can’t help because they’ve not got enough people on their books with experience of manning telephone lines.”

Another worker, who did not want to be named but is employed at the Teleperformance call centre in Ashby-De-La-Zouch, Leics, said staff – believed to be earning just £5.80 per hour – were being given just one day’s training and had no medical background.
He said: “They are literally recruiting people straight off the street. We usually deal with electricity accounts here, but we were told that the NHS required people to man phones during the swine flu crisis and were asked if we knew anyone who is interested.
“It’s an absolute joke. It can be anyone. They are asked to come in for just one day’s training. But the people they are asking are desperate for work so, of course, they will take it.”

The Department of Health has declined to officially reveal where all call centres will be.” But at one identified centre in Watford, Herts, one applicant said: “I asked if they needed staff and they told me about the swine flu centre they were setting up. They didn’t want to know much about me, but said I would undergo up to five hours of paid training with NHS staff before being allowed to take calls.
“I was told I didn’t need any medical background, just that I would be available to work evening shifts for at least the next couple of weeks.”
At a centre in Colchester, Essex, one applicant said: “It looked like a bunch of college girls all giggling in a line.” Michael Summers, vice-chairman of the Patients’ Association, warned that allowing staff with no medical training to advise the public could be dangerous, especially when recommending the anti-viral drug Tamiflu.

But Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the National Pandemic Flu Service will enable people to get a quick swine flu diagnosis and gain access to Tamiflu. He pledged the phoneline will be up and running by the end of the week “subject to testing”. Mr Burnham said preparations for tackling the virus were the best in the world, adding: “We are dealing with it fantastically well”.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “Some 1,500 call centre seats will be capable of answering over 200,000 calls a day which should equate to over a million calls a week.”

Source

What's there to be said? Didn't they think of drafting some of the millions out of work and perhaps incorporating some sort of work and learn scheme?

[Skandi]

What is it 3.5 Million unemployed, or something like that and that's the official figure, and they can't find English speakers???

[Äike]

Estonia is 68% Estonian, but all the operators at the emergency phone hotline speak Estonian. The things that are happening in the United Kingdom are just ridiculous.