Need non urgent medical help, can't get through to NHS24, what to do?

[ChipandPotatoe]

Back story, I woke up yesterday feeling a little wheezy. I then started to cough up blood and thick mucus. Took myself to bed to get an early night.

I woke up today with a mild fever and still coughing up copious amounts of thick blood tinged mucus and a feeling of 'crushed glass' when breathing.

I am on immune suppressants and have had 5 similar occasions this year with a bad chest and productive cough. This is the first time I've coughed up blood so I decided to call nhs24 for advice.

I rang them and understandably they are very busy. I waited 90 minutes and the line randomly cut off. Tried again and the same thing happened at 90 minutes.

What do I do? I doubt I will be able to get through to them today and I don't think my condition is urgent enough to visit a&e. I do think I need to be checked out though as I'm feeling terrible and the blood is worrying me.

Any advice? I'm in Scotland if that makes a difference.

If you're coughing up more than just a few spots then you need 999 or A&E

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coughing-up-blood/

No urgent care centres nearby you?
In which case, as you're on immunosuppressants, I think you should go to A&E.

I'd try going through the link above. Sometimes that link will book a call back for you or it might suggest you take yourself down to the hospital.

Otherwise, you could try ringing your GP and see if they've got a number for an OOH service on their answering machine.

We have a+e and urgent care centres where I live. I'm in England. A+e is for life-threatening emergencies, and urgent care is for everything else. Do you have an urgent care centre?

Where I live, urgent care is next to A&E. You check in and they triage you and decide if you need either/or. I would say if you are immunosuppressed and coughing up blood you need to be seen today. Get up to A&E.

It's just a few spots so I don't think I need to visit a&e. It's more of a pink tinged mucus today.

We do have an urgent care that I was hoping to visit however, you need to be booked in by nhs24. They no longer allow you to just turns up.

I'll try that link posted above and see if I can get anywhere with it.

The link above only works for England unfortunately. My only options seem to be calling nhs24 back or a&e. Hopefully I can get through to them this time.

I had COVID before & coughed up blood once. Hadn't even been coughing that hard. Turned out I had a secondary lung infection. I got medical treatment asap via NHS24 & antibiotics meant I recovered quickly. My dad was in the same situ & he ignored it for 2 weeks, he was hospitalised. Thankfully all ok. I would present to a&e if you can't get through to nhs24.

As you are immunocompromised and have a history of chest infections, I would actually present at A&E rather than wait, as it could be pneumonia at this time of year
A&E would agree I'm sure
Look after yourself OP

Wheezing, go to a&e

I hope you've gone now?

A&E can always refer you to Urgent Care if that is the better place for you, but doing nothing because someone isn't answering the phone isn't the wisest option, unfortunately.

Just to update, went to a&e and was told to call nhs24 to be booked into OOH.

Waited 2 hours for the call to be answered and I'm still waiting for a call back.

I've given up for today and I'm off to bed exhausted. I'll try the GP in the morning and hopefully they will be able to see me. That's if I can get through on their dreadful phone system.

Thanks for all the advice

What a nightmare! I hope you get sorted tomorrow.

That's utter shite, @ChipandPotatoe !
Wishing you a restful night, and hope you get some help- after a short phone call- tomorrow.

I'm really sorry you've been treated like this. It does sound urgent.

Trying to get help from the NHS can be so demoralising when you're feeling poorly. You deserve to be looked after.

That’s crap . You need to be in hospital for chest x ray and antibiotics . Poor you . Honestly what is the NHS coming to???