111 is non functioning

[Wronglane]

Spoke to them at 8:30 this morning about my sick son. Had a callback 3 hours later from a nurse who said we needed to speak to a doctor who would phone us. Heard absolutely nothing back since. 111 is no longer a functioning service is it?

How is your son now?

Have you phoned to check you haven't been missed somehow? If it's ages before a doctor can call, in my area you get phoned back by somebody else to check things haven't worsened. So I wondered if you've been missed somehow.

My recent experiences of 111 have not been positive. On paper it should work and serve a very useful purpose. In my experience, the reality is far from that.

We had this. The GP finally called at 2.30am.

Luckily DD was fine and picked up.

Surely having more doctors doing this would help A&E.

I think they are just completely snowed under . People can't get GP appointment , queues in A&E are frightening.

It’s functioning

you just don’t see it as you’ve been triaged and clearly aren’t a priority as your son can’t be that sick

I've found them fantastic recently ... phone call, photo of injury, prescription- much easier than visiting GP.

The volume of calls has gone through the roof this weekend, mostly due to the media coverage of strep A causing panic! One center had 400 calls in the queue yesterday, double that of a busy bank holday.

I tried this morning for my child and still haven't been called back. I guess as they didn't see us as a priority. The weekends are always busy and even more so now due to strep A.

I rang them because I thought my DD had scarlet fever. To be fair I got triaged in 30 mins but they then sent us to the pharmacy - said they would be able to book us a GP appt if needed (yeah right). Pharmacy sent us to minor injuries unit because they couldn't do anything - minor injuries didn't have any DRs on site but got us an OOH GP appointment elsewhere later that PM - who did indeed diagnose scarlet fever.

So we did get help but it took four different interventions and exposing an infectious child to a load of other people in the meantime.

@TheMildManneredMilitant dreadful that a poorly child had to travel around all day inorder get seen. I hope your DD gets better soon.

They don’t have the staff to deal with the amount of calls they get. Each health board is lucky to have 2 doctors working any shift and they can get hundreds of calls per night. 111 in Scotland (nhs24) for example at one point bad 750 calls in the queue at one point tonight as it’s the weekend

I recently rang them due to symptoms of a severe infection and was told I was on a 2 hour call back. The doctor finally rang me 13 hrs later ... I was already in hospital being treated for sepsis. If in doubt, don't wait.

If you are on a list for a call back for a child they do tell you to ring back if their condition changes or worsens. The call back normally comes from our out of hours gp service and they are snowed under but they always call back eventually.

I've had a poor experience with them on occasion but last time I rang they were ver good. They sent an ambulance which took a long time to arrive but it did in the end.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry are up in A&E with their child atm. I went a couple of days ago with my newborn and the queue was 10+ hours for children to be seen because of a "suspicious" rash...one of the symptoms the media are listing for Strep A.

The media are to blame for this for scaremongering parents!

I once had a call back from 111 while having a super heavy bleed, as in soaking a night time pad in 10 mins, when the doctor said well it would be normal to have erratic bleeds at your age, menopause will be well under way, I asked how old she thought i was - 53 was the answer, I pointed out I was only 38, was hurriedly advised that I would be called back, only to be directed to a&e when I was...

@Beachsidesunset

How scary.

Thank goodness you or some one around you had the foresight to get help and not wait.

I’m a massive fan of the NHS but 111 is absolutely useless in my experience, complete and utter waste of time.

Yep, I once spent so long waiting for a call back over a weekend that by the time they had called back it was Monday, I’d already spoken to the GP and was in the queue to pick up the antibiotics that I needed

I’ve had awful experiences with 111 too, I’m sorry OP and glad your child is feeling better.

Back in the summer we called at 2pm ish for DS who had a temp of 39.4, wouldn't eat or drink and wasn't really weeing. Got told we'd get a call back within the hour.
We got a call back at 10am the next morning saying just keep an eye out but don't take him in to A&E or anything.
We called the doctors the next morning who actually saw him within 30 mins and were very good.
111 in theory is great, in practice at the moment, like the NHS and GPs in general just aren't able to function

I had this. Spoke to a nurse 10.30 in the morning and told a doctor would call me. The doctor called me at 3am!

I can imagine
i have used 111 a few times over the years for elderly parents. They were great. Last time was less than a month ago.

They are. The whole of the NHS is. I can’t see how much longer it can cope.

I rang 111 for my mother last week. I was on hold 40 minutes, then the operator cut me off because they said they couldn’t hear me. I queued again for 30 minutes. Waited an hour for an ambulance (which was good). Waited five hours in the ambulance for a trolley space in the corridor in A&E (which are now labelled as they’re used so regularly). Waited 36 hours in the corridor. Waited 12 hours in an A&E cubicle- and was finally admitted at that point. 😞

As an aside, my mum was only given a Covid test as she entered the ward, and the results came back 24 hrs later, by which time she had caught covid. I tested positive the same evening. Same happened with my dad when he was admitted in summer and the Covid added to what he’d gone in with killed him. Seems ridiculous they don’t do lateral flows immediately to get an idea. It also slows discharge- my mum would’ve gone to a rehab centre by now, but can’t as she has covid. I’m hoping they don’t kill her too.

I rang 111 at a lunchtime once as my 18 month old banged her head in a soft play!? and a massive lump came up straight away. staff did nothing so rang whilst driving home to my parents which was also towards the nearest hospital.
She wouldnt speak to me as i was on hands free so i pulled over. It then took 4 minutes to establish what road i was on before getting to any questions even though id told her my DD had a head injury.
She said id have a call back.
It took 7 hours for a call back, at which point my daughter was asleep, and i was told not to let her sleep for the first 2 hours post accident.
I was fuming.

Why cant paramedics and nurses that cant work due to physical injury not work in 111 so you get properly triaged straight away ?