I'm an NHS 111 health advisor. AMA

[BeautyGoesToBenidorm]

I'm sure this has been done before, but we're under immense pressure at the moment and there's a lot of criticism aimed at us. Come at me!

I like the job, I don't like how we're managed. Staff turnover is absolutely phenomenal.

We have SOME genuinely abusive callers and time-wasters, but mostly they're just unwell and frustrated, which is completely understandable.

We're also expected to take calls from the MH line when they're at capacity. We haven't had the additional training for that, which is hugely unfair on both patients AND staff. The outcome of those calls hinges on the empathy/people skills of the health advisor, and the availability of the clinicians.

I hate taking mental health calls as I don't believe we have the expertise to help. We are trained in using the pathways system but not how to talk to someone who is suicidal. Mental health is far more complex than physical. Most of the time we're telling people to attend a&e or to call the mental health crisis line. You can have shifts where you'll get a lot of mental health callers and then some none at all. I hear that mental health calls are quite common during night shifts.