To think NHS 111 is a fucking joke?

[NillyNolly]

I have had the misfortune of experiencing the new NHS 111 service three times in the last week. One of my DC has a compromised immune system so often need out of hours appointments.

Before the 111 service I could call our local out of hours service who would answer straight away, listen to a brief description of symptoms, then make a doctors appointment or get a nurse to call us back. Simple.

With 111 I have waited an average of 20 mins for someone to pick up each time, had to go through all mine and my DS's details about 3 times, then had to answer a series of questions which takes a further 10 minutes ("is he breathing?" ..... Ummm, do you not think I would have perhaps called an ambulance by now if he wasn't....?)

I am so angry and frustrated with this new phone line!!! !!!!

Oh dear. I did read somewhere that people thought it shouldn't be rolled out yet. Is OOH not an option any more for you?

No, the number just has a message telling you to call 111. I even tried to get put through to the hospital OOH directly but they said I needed to book via 111. I have spent almost 40 mins on the phone to them this morning, it would have taken less than 5 with the old system.

All calls to OOHs in our area are being triaged through 111 - it is not going well. Patients report long waits, not being able to get through at all and being cut-off.

Can you not still phone the OOH as that's what the guidance still indicates, that 111 is an alternative rather than a replacement.

Oh no. I started a thread yesterday about GPs not being open on Good Friday (got a bit of grief over it) but many on there said we have OOH so stop complaining. Seems maybe we don't.

I work for an OOH GP service. 111 only lasted two days in our area before they begged us to take the service back for another month because they couldn't cope. It's an absolute farce. Patients have dangerously long waits, A&E visits and 999 calls increase hugely under their system.

I don't think 20 minutes to pick up the phone is reasonable, and if you have a child with a compromised immune system which is a constant worry it adds to the stress.

It's awful! DS was extremely poorly with tummy bug, called them on Saturday and was told to get docs appointment on Monday, DS was extremely dehydrated with low blood sugar.

I called a couple of months ago after dh had collapsed indoors.

I spent 15 minutes giving our details to someone, her computer crashed and then i had to do it all again to someone else, not her fault i know but she did say it always happens

Then had to answer stupid questions like, what ethnicity he is, what the fuck difference does it make it he is black, white or sky blue pink.

They have this stupid list of questions that they have to ask [buangry]

Just checked our GPs website. Looks like we can have OOH or 111 at the moment.

It depends where you are at the moment - be grateful for OOH triage while you still have it!

Looking back at the NHS after many years abroad (and 10 years previous NHS service which ended in bullying after whistleblowing) I cannot understand why people tolerate the way they are treated. No other health system (and the NHS is not unique in its model) would treat people this way and employ people so thick they depend on a computer to triage people and ask moronic questions.
It is one of the main reasons i couldn't live there again.

it's atrocious - when I had a chest infection and UTI following 'flu, 111 triaged me and said it was 'just 'flu' and to rest. Finally got to my own GP who told me I should have been seen sooner, and got me on ABs.

I want to call NHSDirect for advice on DD's chickenpox (she is too young for most OTC drugs, and very poorly), but we can't call any more, it has to be the rigmarole of 111, so I'm about to start a thread on MN instead [buhmm]

I had a great experience. My son had an allergic reaction to egg, it was mild but pfb I didn't know if I should worry/get him checked out anyway.
Someone answered phone within 10mins, went through the serious questions, reassured us it wasn't serious serious emergency, said a nurse would call us within an hour.
Nurse rang within a further 10mins and spent ages reassuring us on phone (by this time his reaction had faded) and told us what to do in other cases.

For me it was exactly what I needed anyway.

I'm sorry other people haven't found the same :(

Atleast NHS direct got my children what they needed and always phoned back. On so many occasions it saved hospital/doctors time and probably money as well as simple stuff like a bang to the head or chicken pox, i was reassured if my dc needed medical attention or not. With this new system, i can see people just panicking and rushing to A&E.
I thought they weren't rolling this nonsense out yet due to there being so many flaws? [buconfused]

No - it's bloody ridiculous.

Had to take DS2 to OOH in an area where 111 isn't rolled out yet because it IS active in our area. So we phoned them, got sorted with an appointment 15 minutes later (and even then she was giving us the 10 minute chat about things to watch out for, even though we were on the way to the GP and it was delaying us)

We got to the OOH and we were told we had a 2 hour wait at least. We said we had booked an appointment - impossible, apparently, as they don't have appointments. Due to the fact 111 isn't in this area, all appointments on their system were free - because they weren't using them.

After waiting over an hour, in which time they saw 3 people (and we still had 5 ahead of us) we gave up and went back to get DS to bed.

seems like this system is as bas as NHS direct then!

There again given OOH always refuse to see DS can't make things any worse for him!

We had a fiasco with 111.
Diaed NHS direct, which when through all our details, and then got told we were out of area, and to call 111.
Called 111, had to go through all our details, and then got told to go to a ooh GP 40 miles away. Objected, and said I wanted to go to local town X. Got told to rig NHS direct. went round in circles til someone understood I wanted to travel 5 miles, not 40.. Took about an hour of back and forth.
Whole system needs sorting.

That said, I rang 101 for the police the other day, as the wind had blown the barriers into the road. When I went back, they had moved them- took them less than 30 mins

I've never had a problem with NHS direct. They've always called us back within a few minutes OR popped us straight through to an OOH GP. If we need to see the GP we're at the clinic within the hour. OOH was invaluable when they had dreadful chicken pox and needed to be seen on a saturday at 10pm.

I really don't like the sound of 111 at all.

so is 111 worse than nhs direct because frankley i thought they were pretty useless everytime i phoned them they told me to go to Aand E even if it was just for aminor ailment so I just cut out the middle man and went to A and E myself and have you ever triedto get an emergency dentist through NHS direct what arigmorle you have to phone them and wait about 3 hrs foe a nurse to phone you back WTF a nurse would know about dental pain i have no idea than they give you an appointment!