AIBU to think this is a bit ridiculous (NHS 111)

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I very rarely feel unwell enough that I go to hospital or call 111 for anything; I generally try and wait until I can see my GP. However, last night I had a headache that was blinding, wasn’t getting better with painkillers and also was struggling to catch my breath. I had my second vaccine about 10 days ago and they’d said to me if I have a headache that doesn’t improve with painkillers to call 111.

So at 9pm I tried calling but after a fairly long wait the message informed me to fill in my symptoms online which I did. At 9.30pm they advised a nurse would call me back within two hours so I decided to wait up despite feeling exhausted by the headache pain and just wanting sleep.

Half 11 came and went with no call, so I decided to put my phone on loud and try to sleep off the headache.

I woke up just as my phone was ringing off so missed the call. I checked the time and it was 3.30am!! Six hours after I had submitted the form and surely a ridiculous hour to call someone about anything. If it had gotten worse I would’ve been in hospital by that point.

I waited for half hour as they say that they’ll try calling 3 times and eventually went back to sleep at 4am with no call. This time I put my phone back on silent as I wanted to catch up on sleep and figured they weren’t calling back.

Except they did call back at 5am and 5.05am before leaving a voicemail saying they’d tried to call me 3 times to no avail and to call back if needed.

I love and appreciate the NHS system beyond belief, and I know these are tough times, but surely trying to get hold of someone at 3.30am when they needed help at 9pm is madness?

Headache is still bad so will see my GP today, but I do feel a little bit let down by the 111 system.

AIBU?

The online form only tells you the target, not the reality of whats actually happening at that point

111 is the out of hours service that people tend to contact because they need help overnight etc so I don't think its unreasonable for them to call you during the night.

The alternative would be for them to close overnight or not call people back till the morning which could leave people up all night in pain and worried.

Have you ever watched those Ambulance programmes? They currently have thousands and thousands of people queueing on the phone and I imagine 111 is no different. They can only go so fast and they have to prioritise. What's the alternative to them ringing you when they get to you, even if it happens to be 3am? It would be not to call at all, and they didn't do that.

Hope you feel better soon OP!

I said yanbu as why isn’t it an immediate concern that you don’t answer? Did they check if you lived alone? The three callbacks should be back to back.

Yeah I guess it makes sense that they’re busier overnight, I was just really surprised that it was 6 hours later at such an odd hour.

I remember once when my brother tried taking his own life and we called 111 who advised paramedics come out to him (this was about 10pm). They banged on the door at 4am and I was really surprised by that too as it was so much later.

I just feel so sad that there’s clearly not enough staff and the pressure must be unbearable for the staff that are there. In both of my examples everyone was okay, but I fear for those who wait that long and aren’t.

Appreciate those telling me I’m BU, I think I’m fine going to the GP today so it’s not really my own situation I find ridiculous but more the system itself being severely understaffed that 2 hours becomes 6.

They did call you back though. They don't have an endless supply of nurses to speak to patients.

Yes it awful they are so understaffed that 2 hours becomes 6 but with that being the case, I don't think it was unreasonable to call you at 3am.

Yanbu OP. Good luck with the GP today.

YABVU. If you needed urgent care you wouldn't have cared what time it was. If you'd have gotten worse, you'd have gone to hospital, which is what they'd have advised you to do at the time they advised of a call back target.

They'll have prioritised cases and, to be honest, if you could sleep through the pain they were right not to prioritise you.

@gnarlyauldboiler completely agree with you about it being a staffing issue.

I actually studied the 111 system as part of ops management for my masters degree and it is such a clever system to reduce the backlog at a&e BUT if people are really worried and haven’t had a call say within 3-4 hours chances are they’ll take themselves to a&e anyway which then ruins the whole funnel system they have. It makes sense to have a lot more staff working on 111 to provide that service and reduce the flow of people to hospital that don’t need to go, but I understand that’s a lot easier said than done.

It’s a good sign that you got some sleep. I guess they feel 3.30 am isn’t a bad time to call someone who felt ill enough at 9.30 pm to call for help. They likely assumed you would be awake and in pain/suffering. I think it’s odd that they told you to go online with a blinding headache. That would make it worse, surely?

Yes you are being unreasonable. 111 is 24/7 and are not mind readers. Hey called you missed the call and put your phone on silent!

Well now you know for next time

Your call will have been triaged according to the info you supplied - other callers must have had reported symptoms that sounded more serious. Hope you feel better soon.

I understand that @girlmom21 and if you read my PP I’ve said that I’m okay with my situation, it’s more the worry about people who are worse who would be waiting for a callback by which point it would be too late.

Sounds normal to me for that particular service and they DID try and call you back, if you were in desperate need of the call I’m not sure why on earth you’d put your phone back on silent.

An enduring, blinding headache that's unaffected by paracetamol and struggling to catch your breath, 10 days after a vaccine.

There is no change 111 would have told you to wait this out and monitor.

They'd have sent you to A&E. In your shoes I would have skipped 111 and gone straight.

*no chance

@OnlyFantastic I was limited in my options throughout the symptom checker but they did ask about the vaccine and when I’d had it. I’ve spoken to my GP who has asked me to come in ASAP.

And for those asking why I put my phone back on silent, I did wait half hour for another callback. But as I said, I had a splitting headache and was desperately trying to sleep it off. I work with international clients and often get emails/slack messages at silly hours so wanted to at least try and get a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep. Lesson learnt!

Of course they'd try and call you as soon as they could- it doesn't matter what time. My dd was in tears her migraine was so bad but I went to a&e (not that it helped), if I'd called 111 and got no response I would have gone to hospital. They work shifts they are not sitting there thinking if it's too early or late to call!

My experience is that they tend to tell people to go to hospital.

The problem is, I guess, that they can’t tell who needs calling back ASAP and who would be better off sleeping and being called in the morning. However, I also agree that if you managed to sleep it was better just to see someone in the morning.

What a complete waste of their time. Why on earth would you put your phone on silent knowing they were going to call? Baffling.

Assuming this is the AZ vaccine, you should be going straight to A+E for a scan, not posting on MN berating the NHS. The headache can't be that bad that you can write all this.

Worst i had with 111 was some years agonwhen dd was a baby. I called at about 10pm and was told someone would call me back. At midnight I decided we needed to go to A and E and we finally got home at 7.30am. She'd narrowly escaped being admitted. and spent a good chunk of the night on a drip. At 8am the phone rung and it was 111 calling back. Apparently they'd also tried at 6am and and 6.30am.

I haven't bothered with them since for the children. I'd rather sit in A and E where I know that help is immediately available if things get worse even if I do have to wait 2 to 3 hours.

I have called them for myself though and had similar experiences to the OP.

Its obvious that demand why outstrips supply and they're struggling to reach everyone nitnots no comfort when its you not being reached.

Putting your phone on silent was unreasonable.

You totally wasted their time so actually you’re the one BU. If your headache was blinding there’s just no way you’d have been able to sleep so probably just as well you didn’t go to A&E and waste their time too.

Its obvious that demand why outstrips supply and they're struggling to reach everyone nitnots no comfort when its you not being reached.

Yeah, I'm sure they're not doing it for the lolz. People keep voting in the Tories then moaning about things like this.