Has anyone ever called 111 and NOT been told to go to A and E?

[riotlady]

I know they need to stay on the safe side but i feel like it’s their response to everything, which sort of defeats the purpose a little bit.

We usually get sent to out of hours. Once we had a district nurse sent to the house. It's a great service albeit slightly over cautious

I have been told that this is because it’s hard to assess someone Over the phone let alone a baby. So we tell them a&e to be on the safe side as we are obviously not there with them. Babies can deteriorate very quickly.
Yet children are the group most likely to end up in A&E when not required.

Not aimed at you, you have to follow the script but I think parents are overall very uneducated when it comes to bsbies/children health. I often hear women saying they took their child to A&E because they had a cold/sore throat for 5 days and still had a temperature of 38.5. 5 days is normal to get over a virus and 38.5 is not much of a temp for a child.

I think there should be classes offered to parents under the nhs to build their confidence as to what is normal and what are worrying signs.

When I’ve rang for my ds always been out of hours dr appt. when I rang for me was told to make an appointment with the gp in the morning. By the time morning came my DH had to call an ambulance as I was Unconscious as had meningitis.

@swingofthings I think part of the worry about temperatures is that you’re told when they’re under 3 months to get them straight to the doctors if they have a temp, it’s a hard adjustment to relax about it once they’re six months plus.

We’ve never (well, only phoned about 4 times so it’s not like it’s loads) been told to go to a&e. Always out of hours. One of the times that meant I drove my 11 week old half an hour in the car on my own (dh stayed at home with dd). My very poorly 11 week old with breathing difficulties who was then hospitalised with pneumonia. That one should have been a go to a&e or actually probably an ambulance. I still go cold thinking about how that could have been different.

I phone them for out of hours appointments. Several times I've had to tell them not to send an ambulance and make me an appointment instead. DS has a asthma and his attacks come on over several hours rather than a sudden struggle so we are able to get him to a&e ourselves if needed. oh phoned when I was ill and they sent an ambulance but as I wasn't deathly ill it took around 2 hours. I was too out of it to argue and OH was just beside himself with worry.

To answer your question - no, not that I can recall

Yes. Dd took an overdose.

I rang 111, they took all the details and said they needed a nurse to ring me back. Nurse rang back a while later and asked more questions and said she needed to get a doctor to ring me back. Nobody ever rang back.

By this time via google I'd worked out how many tablets she had had for her weight and decided she would be ok and we all went to bed.

I complained via email the next day and had a phone call from a panicked manager telling me to take her to a&e and I said she was at school and I was at work and she was fine and I wasn't.

Result if the complaint was that they had no record of my phone call so couldn't investigate further! I pointed out someone had rung me back at one point so there must have been a record somewhere but they were adamant there wasn't.

Mostly out of hours GP here.

They’ve been really good with me. I had tonsillitis over the weekend and they arranged an out of hours GP appointment for me at the urgent care.

My son had croup and they said to treat at home.

@Riotkady, who says that? I was never told to take my child to the doctor for a temperature, on the opposite that they were much better tucked up at home.

My kids had temperatures that went up to 40 degrees. What would have triggered a visit to the emergency would have been if the temperature didn't go down despite calpol, breathing problems (not just shallow as they get with the temp), them being unresponsive (not even open g their eyes/turning head), concern over dehydration if no drinking at all over 2 days, dilated/rolling eyes, crying in clear agonising pain rather frustration, especially neck and of course the obvious rash not clearing with roll of glass.

Loads of times. More often than not it’s been OOH Gp appointment imminently or to see a doctor within 24hrs

I've been sent for x rays when ds swallowed a 10p and ooh when Dd pulled her elbow. Other than that I had gp call backs for emergency prescriptions. Never had an ambulance situation. We are very rural though so we do call 111 rather than do the 45min drive to a&e just to check what care we need.

I called them when my eldest was a baby, was given an out of hours GP appointment for hours later, she had sepsis and every sign of it too. Will never ever call them again.

When my son was 12 weeks old he had sepsis and we got sent to the out of hours GP which wasted time.

I was having severe sinus pain so phoned 111 for advice. Lovely dr phoned me back and gave me permission to take higher doses of painkillers which did the job nicely!

(He’s fine now, but traumatic at the time)

Called twice both times been referred to out of hours GP.

Had an A and E referral once, urgent care centre or watch and wait the rest of the time.

I rang when my baby was 13 days old because he was unwell - during the course of the phone call he went blue and stopped breathing. I was obviously extremely distressed and requested an ambulance but the call handler wanted to ask me more questions like was he a term baby etc.
I hung up in the end and dialled 999 as they were wasting time.

Not called them since as I don’t trust them.

Yes I’ve called twice, been out through to a doctor twice who went through a load of things with me (about my then baby). One time that was that and the next time they followed up a few hours later. A&E was never mentioned.

Im a GP and we get sent a very brief summary every time one of our patients call 111.
I would say it's mostly 'speak to primary care' ie GP which if it's out of hours they'll arrange. Probably then a&e, then ambulance sent then home management in order of frequency. But I could well be biased in my remembering - I'd be amazed if the actual figures for this aren't published published publically.

DH rang them as my heart rate was very low.They immediately sent an ambulance. Pacemaker fitted the next day.

Phoned it once for a wheezy 7 month old in the night. Sent to out of hours (it was the gateway). OoH Dr said he was just the right side of the threshold to not need A&E.

I needed medical advice but wasn't sure if A&E was required. I had taken him directly down there myself at 3m for being wheezy and driving on my own trying to listen in the back of the car was horrid (DH abroad, had to get a friend over for toddler sibling). Naturally after being triaged he perked up and was back into smiles and flirt mode by the time he saw the Dr At least the GP's record of it helped get asthma treatment when he was a night coughing toddler.

I generally only call when I'm having asthma issues and it's out of hours. It's the only way to get an appointment.

Last time I used 111 they referred me on to an OOH GP appointment, just as I had hoped they would.