Bloody 111

[iamme21]

DS 19 has had the lurgy for a week. Since Friday night cough has got increasingly worse. Lunchtime today, he can't stop coughing, is breathless, wheezy, has pains in his chest when he breathes. I rang 111 to try and get an OOH doctors appointment. I spoke to them , DS spoke to them. Because he said he had chest pain they sent an ambulance.

Crew were amazing, checked him over thoroughly, think he has pleurisy. They were happy to get him an appointment with OOH rather than take him to the hospital.

They have sat in the ambulance outside my house for over 90 minutes. At 5.40 they came back to the house, got DS an appointment at 6.

What a waste of time, no wonder the NHS is broken,

Crunchy- I know someone who works in the ambulance service- this is the protocol. Can’t see much point in complaining

111 are so useless. I wish we could go back to the days when we could book an appointment with OOH ourselves

Daisy - exactly!

I agree with Daisy. Can't see or speak to a Dr at weekends without going through 111 - and they have obvious triggers on breathing difficulties... even though there are degrees! When you have a young baby with a sibling in preschool you start second guessing every bloody cold - and the risk of an unnecessary ambulance thanks to 111 doesn't help the stress!

DH had to talk 111 out of sending our 3yo to an OOH Drs appointment 1 hour drive away at 8pm (temp/vomited once) and instead got a (much more appropriate) telephone consult with a Dr as he wanted to check he wasn't missing any signs to look for in humans. Dr was happy with his assessment...

I drove myself and 4wk old to hospital with early bronchiolitis after Dr referred him. His sats were borderline at the GP and the same at hospital so car journey was fine. He was admitted for 48 hrs and did need some O2 and tube feeding but suspect we would have not been kept in if we'd lived closer - right on the threshold for referral and admission!

Until recently we had a consortium of Drs OOH and they were much better- you could get a call back from a Dr or nurse if required!

Op they could have been waiting to make sure her was OK.

I agree though the bloody hoops to try and get an ooh appointment is horrific. It really is.

That's mad.
I waited with an elderly lady who had fallen over this weekend. Emergency services said not to move her from the ground. (Fair enough, we didn't know how injured she might be) but it is absolutely FREEZING and the ambulance took an hour to come. It was awful to witness her so cold and in pain, just waiting and waiting. The thought that the reason might have been that an ambulance crew were sitting waiting on a phone call that whole time is absolutely gobsmacking.