What are people's experience of the 111 service?

[Amigo]

As people who may on occasion need urgent medical advice, I wondered what your experiences have been of the 111 service.

I recently had occasion to use them and I'm afraid they were a total waste of time. In future I'd call an ambulance or just present at A&E. I went through my symptoms at nearly 11pm to a receptionist who then passed me to a nurse to go through them all again. She then said she'd have a GP ring me and at quarter to one in the morning the said GP rang me back. It was obvious to all but the most medically clueless that I had the symptoms of sepsis and probably pneumonia. My temp was high, my b/p low and I had tachycardia. Her idea was that I drive myself across town in a medically unfit state to visit the walk in clinic! She actually said to me that she didn't know what to suggest. I actually told her I couldn't see what possible help she could be if I visited.

Because my husband couldn't leave my son and it was by now the middle of the night, I was forced to just go to bed hoping all would be OK until the morning. The following morning my own GP rang me and told me to go to hospital immediately. I told the 111 service I'd have been better just ringing an ambulance but they said they do the assessment for urgency on them. I'm not convinced that's true however. My mum recently waited 5 hrs for an ambulance to take her into hospital and she was taken into surgery when she got there.

In future I won't be consulting them because they cannot fast track you into hospital so it's probably better simply to get yourself there and by-pass their clunky, time wasting systems.

Have others had better experiences?

 

[Lindarose]

Hi Amigo. I sympathise.
Recently my daughter had a flare up of trigeminal neuralgia. She knew instantly what it was having had it once before and as it was after gp hours rang 111 to ask for the specific tablet that is the only thing that helps. After waiting a couple of hours she was called back and advised to take paracetamol and neurofen and see her gp in the morning That's ridiculous as any medic should know nothing touches the pain except the anti epileptic drug she was prescribed before. So we ended up in ae waiting hours to see a doctor just to get given the meds she needed. This involved cannula and blood tests, taking a space in trolley bay and so much agony for her.
I really don't have much faith in 111 either!

 

[Copepod]

To be honest, if I was experiencing a combination of symptoms including high temperature, low B/P (assuming I had a sphygmanometer and could check) and high heart rate, I wouldn't have phoned 111, but would have phoned out of hours GP service or gone to A&E, depending on transport options. If I needed to ask someone for a lift (I wouldn't drive myself with that combination of symptoms) I'd rather ask them at 11pm than 1am. I have driven a lodger to GP out of hours building, when they needed antibiotic prescription, was pleased that she thought to ask at about 8pm than later. I wasn't so impressed that she didn't take any cash, so had to borrow money for prescription from me. She did pay that back, but never even offered to cover petrol costs!

 

[Amigo]

Hi Amigo. I sympathise.
Recently my daughter had a flare up of trigeminal neuralgia. She knew instantly what it was having had it once before and as it was after gp hours rang 111 to ask for the specific tablet that is the only thing that helps. After waiting a couple of hours she was called back and advised to take paracetamol and neurofen and see her gp in the morning That's ridiculous as any medic should know nothing touches the pain except the anti epileptic drug she was prescribed before. So we ended up in ae waiting hours to see a doctor just to get given the meds she needed. This involved cannula and blood tests, taking a space in trolley bay and so much agony for her.
I really don't have much faith in 111 either!

Trigeminal neuralgia is one of the most intense pains anyone can experience and even as a non medic I'd know that only something like gabapentin would touch it. I remember you posting at the time Linda and my heart went out to your daughter. Trouble is doctors will not visit now and are paid a significant amount of money to sit in surgeries dishing out often lazy and unhelpful advice. Since that time I've read that someone with sepsis risks their life by 7% for every hour they don't receive treatment!
I won't be bothering with them again and have decided I need to be a more demanding patient if I hope to survive!

 

[Amigo]

To be honest, if I was experiencing a combination of symptoms including high temperature, low B/P (assuming I had a sphygmanometer and could check) and high heart rate, I wouldn't have phoned 111, but would have phoned out of hours GP service or gone to A&E, depending on transport options. If I needed to ask someone for a lift (I wouldn't drive myself with that combination of symptoms) I'd rather ask them at 11pm than 1am. I have driven a lodger to GP out of hours building, when they needed antibiotic prescription, was pleased that she thought to ask at about 8pm than later. I wasn't so impressed that she didn't take any cash, so had to borrow money for prescription from me. She did pay that back, but never even offered to cover petrol costs!

Copepod, my out of hours GP service directs me to the 111 service. I first rang at 10.45 pm and had seen my own GP that day. The GP took 2 hours to ring me back which restricted my options particularly as I have a dependent person at home who cannot be left and I wasn't well enough to go anywhere myself. Any GP with any sense would have sent an ambulance!

 

[SB2015]

So sorry to hear you have been unwell again Amigo. I hope that you are feeling better soon.

I recently phoned 111 when I suddenly lost feeling in my foot and leg. They were speedy in getting a doctor to phone me back. They recommended an emergency appointment with GP which I got and was in hospital within two hours which led to spinal op for stenosis. I should have gone straight to GP but I was working on the idea, that it was just weird and the feeling would come back. It didn't and hasn't but might yet.

Previously I phoned NHS direct soon after diabetes diagnosis when I was feeling rough and had risen above 10 (at that time that seemed like a disaster). They told me to give myself 6 units of insulin. At that time I was only on tiny amounts of 1 1/2 units at each meal!! I was glad that I at least worked out that that was not a good idea. An early lesson of sort it out yourself.

 

[Amigo]

So sorry to hear you have been unwell again Amigo. I hope that you are feeling better soon.

I recently phoned 111 when I suddenly lost feeling in my foot and leg. They were speedy in getting a doctor to phone me back. They recommended an emergency appointment with GP which I got and was in hospital within two hours which led to spinal op for stenosis. I should have gone straight to GP but I was working on the idea, that it was just weird and the feeling would come back. It didn't and hasn't but might yet.

Previously I phoned NHS direct soon after diabetes diagnosis when I was feeling rough and had risen above 10 (at that time that seemed like a disaster). They told me to give myself 6 units of insulin. At that time I was only on tiny amounts of 1 1/2 units at each meal!! I was glad that I at least worked out that that was not a good idea. An early lesson of sort it out yourself.

I'm pleased to hear you received a better service SB. It's just unfortunate that my 111 doctor took over 2 hrs to ring me back and because I didn't know what she'd advise, it wasted time when I'd have been better just going to hospital. You live and learn but the truth is this doctor was prepared to be far too cavalier with symptoms that were life threatening. At one time doctors actually made home visits out of hours.

 

[pav]

Used them a few times, not particularly impressed with them. Most times it was a 2 hour plus wait for the return call, then they would want you to go to the hospital where they are based, not easy when one is calling about someone who can't get out of the house.Then depending on the which doctor came out depended on what the treatment was like. Some were on the ball and identified what was wrong others was see your own GP.

If one rang in the early hours of the morning, it was some times asked to call the GP when they opened, rather than wait for their doctor to turn up, would not of called them if could of waited.

 

[Northerner]

When I was really ill a couple of years ago I bypassed 111 and rang 999. However, even though I was potentially in DKA with ketones through the roof and unable to eat or drink without instantly being sick (and therefore in no position to treat a hypo) I was put onto a nurse at the ambulance service, who then told me to call my DSN. Called the DSN who told me to go to my GP. At each stage I stressed how much at risk I felt I was, since I live alone, but nothing seemed to matter. Admittedly, this was in early January, so they were very busy, but it's still my opinion that could quite possibly not have survived. When I told my consultant about it later he was appalled and said there should have been 'red flags' all round. So, in my case I think that an initial call to 111 would have simply been an extra, worthless call

111 is a reduced service from the old NHS Direct, which had many more trained professionals on hand. 111 relies on scripts and tick boxes. But my experience taught me that these days even calling 999 is not necessarily going to provide the help you need. I was probably in a similar, if not worse condition to when I was diagnosed in 2008 - on that occasion the ambulance was with me in 5 minutes.

 

[Rosiecarmel]

NHS direct used to have healthcare professionals however 111 workers usually have no medical training. I rang about my HS and had to spell it out to them over the phone. They still has no idea what it was. They can put you through to medical professionals though. All I needed was an emergency anti biotic prescription as it was Friday night and an abscess had just burst (sorry for the mental picture!). They told me to wait until Monday and go see my GP then. In the mean time my infection spread and I ended up in a&e with an extremely high temperature and needed IV anti biotics.

 

[Flower]

I had my first experience of 111 last weekend when I was trying to get out of hours help for my Mum in a different town. I was surprised when I rang her surgery for the out of hours number to be told to ring 111 as I had no idea the out of hours gp service was covered by 111. I found the service poor with a total onus put on me to try and get her to a walk in centre even though she was fainting and I was 30 miles away and unable to drive. I went to help her and called the hospital to ask what time the out of hours Doctor- whom I had been assured would come -was likely to arrive. I was told it would probably be in the early hours of the following morning. At 6pm I called for an ambulance as my Mum was deteriorating and she was admitted through A and E and the care she received from the A and E Doctors and the ward was excellent.

There appears to be a large chasm between 111 and 999 with very little in between, the out of hours gp service seems to have all but disappeared and I 'm not surprised A and E departments are so massively overcrowded.

 

[Copepod]

Some areas still have out of hours GP consortium services, sometimes operating out of a special building to which patients can go. Some A&Es have GPs to deal with problems that aren't life threatening accidents, nor emergencies. It's not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, and I realise that while you might know what to do in your own home area, elsewhere will be more complicated, an there's where 111 should give practical information about where to go. The issue of transport is a bit different. Emergency ambulances and staff are really to get emergency care to patients as soon as possible, not merely to transport people to hospital. An ambulance and techician acting as a taxi and driver can't go to a sick person elsewhere. That's why I drove a fellow lodger in the house where I lived then to out of hours GP building and lent her the money for her antibiotic prescription. On other occasions, I've sat with child(ren) while their parent takes a sick or injured sibling to A&E.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

I was told to make a 2 hour drive even though I had a haemorrhage from surgery and BP through the floorboards. Cornwall and Devon have an out of hours GP service which can only be reached via 111. Lady who answered the 111 call really got her knickers in a twist when I told her I wasn't capable of even walking outside the door and as she wasn't listening to me I wasn't prepared to carry on the conversation. She basically screamed at me not to dare hang up on her. Needless to say I did as still dripping blood everywhere. Neighbour called an ambulance for me and the crew were fantastic.

 

[Caroline]

Last time I phoned 111 I was told they would send a doctor immediately. It was about 8 hours later when the doctor arrived and I had to phone my GP surgery for help. It is a good job the person the doctor was for didn't need emergency treatment and it was only to confirm what the nurses and I already new, I couldn't get a death certificate without a doctor.

 

[Amigo]

From all the experiences I've read here it appears that whilst 111 should be a conduit to services, they act primarily as a barrier or gatekeeper. I'm sure they have their uses for people who need prescriptions especially out of hours or treatment which can safely be delivered at home.

What I'd never use them for again is advice and care in a more urgent situation. I followed NHS protocol in ringing them and they failed me. I certainly wasn't looking for a cheap taxi service anywhere but it has to be recognised that sometimes people are really too sick to travel and especially not alone. I could barely get my breath and yet was expected to manage their inadequacies as well as my serious illness and home commitments. As a result I took a risky decision to wait until morning because I was exhausted and it was nearly 2am by the time contact with them was finalised.

My conclusion is don't bother them unless you're in pretty good shape! 🙄

 

[Amigo]

Last time I phoned 111 I was told they would send a doctor immediately. It was about 8 hours later when the doctor arrived and I had to phone my GP surgery for help. It is a good job the person the doctor was for didn't need emergency treatment and it was only to confirm what the nurses and I already new, I couldn't get a death certificate without a doctor.

What a dreadful situation for you Caroline!

 

[jocat]

It was about 23.00 mid Jan on a fri night that my bs levels shot off scale on every meter I own. This scared me as they were not coming down, dialled 111 and gave all the details to a call handler who said a dr would call me back. Good bit here the dr rang within 5 mins, gave him all the details as sugars had been creeping up but had suddenly gone v high. He said I'd got to go to ae immediately as I needed insulin. I explained that this was going to be difficult because I live on my own and did not feel able to drive, did not have enough money for a taxi, his reply tough you have got to get there asap. In the end contacted mum who had to leave my dad in bed, she is 24 hr carer for him and drive me the 30 miles to the nearest a & e. I booked in at reception and explained I'd been sent by 111 as need insulin, I then proceeded to sit there, they didn't even bother triaging me for the next 6 hours. I Kept a regular check on bs and after 6 hours gradually dropped a little bit although still over 25. We were concerned bout dad on his own so I went and withdrew from the waiting list and went home feeling dreadful, sugars remained very high for several weeks but I saw my go with emergency appointment on the Monday. After 2 weeks battling it was decided I should start on insulin immediately, initially was on mixed, after two weeks swapped to basal bolus and sugars have at last improved.
The diabetes practice nurse at my surgery decides what insulin you are on and how much once the gp says yes start on insulin
When I saw own gp on the mon she said the 111 dr should have seen me in clacton given some insulin and got me seen by own gp,which I did off my own bat
Jo

 

[Rosiecarmel]

From all the experiences I've read here it appears that whilst 111 should be a conduit to services, they act primarily as a barrier or gatekeeper. I'm sure they have their uses for people who need prescriptions especially out of hours or treatment which can safely be delivered at home.

All I needed was high dose anti biotics. I get the same ones every time I have a flare up of my HS so I told them exactly what I needed. I originally tried ringing my GP but they had just closed and it was Friday afternoon. I had open wounds and infections that I was trying my hardest to keep clean. They told me to leave it alone (even though it was weeping and bleeding a LOT) and just wait til Monday morning. By Sunday afternoon the infection had spread into other open wounds and I became very poorly. Whilst there is the chance that even with anti biotics, I may have needed a hospital admissions, I know it would not have been as serious as it was if they'd just given me a prescription. If I had got my tablets on the Friday afternoon, by Sunday afternoon they would have started working to cure the infection instead of it spreading.

I feel the 111 workers definitely need some more health care experience

 

[stephknits]

I have to say, 111 worked for me when I was very ill in January. My husband rang, explained my symptoms, a Dr rang back quite quickly and they despatched an ambulance. The paramedics decided I just had a stomach bug and made me an appointment with my gp later that morning. I couldn't get off the sofa, let alone make it to the surgery and my ketones, tested with urine strips, as my husband couldn't find my ketone meter and strips, was as high as they could go. He rang back 111 who despatched in short measure the same paramedics. My husband also rang the gp to say I couldn't go in,they sent a Dr for a home visit, who arrived just before the ambulance. She said get an ambulance and it arrived!

 

[Amigo]

I have to say, 111 worked for me when I was very ill in January. My husband rang, explained my symptoms, a Dr rang back quite quickly and they despatched an ambulance. The paramedics decided I just had a stomach bug and made me an appointment with my gp later that morning. I couldn't get off the sofa, let alone make it to the surgery and my ketones, tested with urine strips, as my husband couldn't find my ketone meter and strips, was as high as they could go. He rang back 111 who despatched in short measure the same paramedics. My husband also rang the gp to say I couldn't go in,they sent a Dr for a home visit, who arrived just before the ambulance. She said get an ambulance and it arrived!

How it should be Stephknits! 🙂

I think it must make a difference which GP you get. The one who rung me was exceedingly odd with a strange affectation which didn't inspire confidence.