To think 111 service is shocking!

[mkwar]

So on 2 occasions I have had to call 111 my ds is currently 6 weeks old, I called them once when he was three weeks old due to bad symptoms of what we now know was reflux and yesterday as he had been a little under the weather and started to slightly swell on the left side of this face, so naturally I called 111 due to his symptoms not being severe enough to call an ambulance, however if we felt we needed too we would have, we have ended up just taking him to a&e both times. So to get to the point I called them on both occasions and each time they have told me I need to speak to a clinician asap and one will call me straight back each time i have called them has been at night around 9pm and both times they haven't called me back until 3am like for a baby I just find that absolutely shocking I completely understand they are busy and have a lot to deal with, and if that was for myself or my Dh I wouldn't have cared about the long wait but I just believe you can't chance anything with a bubba or a child! I'm so annoyed by it to top it off I was left a shitty voicemail from them complaining I didn't pick up the phone it was 3am and I was already in the hospital with my ds my last thought was checking my phone I had placed it on silent to avoid waking anyone in the ward up and my ds.

Has anyone else has the same issues? X

Some people are just downright nasty or have nothing useful to occupy their time with. I like bubba, it's fine and is just an affectionate nn for a baby. As you said the infantile one here isn't you...

cunts like unicorns too apparently.

Last time I used it I waited 17 hours for a call back.

So the first time it was reflux, what was your baby diagnosed with this second time?

I wonder if you are a bit quick to call rather than go through other routes. The first is surely a GP appointment in the day, not an out of hours emergency. If I'm reading it right, you ended up in A&E because of reflux. This isn't helping the NHS one bit

The second time, you seem a bit ambiguous about the swelling, but if there was swelling then absolutely it should have been checked out, but I'm not sure what 111 were going to do over the phone.

In 7 years is parenting with 2 children I've called 111 3 times. Once for a baby with a very bad tummy bug where she couldn't keep water down. Once for a toddler with severe headaches and vomitting (turned it to be a brain tumour), and once for a school age child who became feverish and had chest pains (turned it to be nothing major).

I know you have to be more careful with babies, but for things like reflux, waiting until the morning for the GP is surely fine.

There's literally 0 health care professionals can do. Save your breath and take it to the voting booth.

It was reflux yes however he had three episodes of mild choking and we didn't know what the cause was and it was in the dead of night he couldn't be placed on his back and I practice safe sleep so couldn't have him any other way, yesterday is still not confirmed as they believe it's a reaction to something just unsure what but we did the right thing by bringing him in x

Thank you to everyone who has wished 'bubba' well ❤️

I used to take calls for 999 and 111 and the service is just abused. Its like people have no common sense anymore. I took a call on 1s where someone was concerned because they had drank 2 litres of water overnight and were still thirsty. That was it. And there were cases like that all the time.
Or people that had fallen and their leg was bent out of shape quite obviously broken, just go to hospital?
9s was the same, I had someone call 999 once because the seal on their pcr test was broken, wanted to know if she could still send it off? Ridiculous.
People need to take more responsibility for their own health.
I never minded talking to the parents of young children because as a parent I know the worry, but the reason the queues are so long is mostly because of idiots.
Also 111 deal with loads of stuff out of hours for example people on end of life that need pain relief, blood test results etc. Children usually take priority and it broke my heart how many elderly people with genuine need had to wait cos the nurse is speaking to the parent of a kid with a fever and no other symptoms.
Education on the service is needed.

It's awful when you have a sick child and just want some quick reassurance or treatment and you're left feeling forgotten.
Having said that I'm surprised they said they'd call straight back, as whenever I've called, if they need to escalate they are at pains to tell me they don't know what the wait will be as they don't know what other priorities there are. I get the impression they aren't necessarily in the same room, I've had calls back from local GPs sometimes when it's been deemed less urgent.

And I remember back in 2006 when it was called NHS direct, I had to go through 3 different people each of who took hours to call back and eventually they told me to go to the NHS walk in centre, so it's never been the quickest system.
Regarding calling an ambulance, if you can get there yourself it's always better to go to a&e yourself as it's quicker and less stressful. The advantage of ambulances is they can work on a patient immediately if they are unstable or time critical and also move patients that can't just go in the car etc.
Take care!

Yabvvvvu to use the word bubba,

and as to 111 that’s how it is, and there maybe people who are far more poorly than a baby with a swollen face

Blame the government not the NHS.
tThis is what happens when people vote Tory

I've used 111 twice in the past 18 months, and both times they have been very efficient, getting me clinical help (either a phone call from my GP or an immediate appointment at the nearest MIU) within 30 minutes.
Maybe I am lucky, but I have no complaints about the service.

I found them really good, called 2 weeks ago, they called back within 20 mins and had an app for my son within the hour!

I rang 111 and had a message that it was busy and it would take an hour for them to answer the call.
Obviously we went to A&E where it was pretty busy, but they admitted DS that night.
I don’t think they have anywhere near enough call handlers, which doesn’t help the situation in A&E.

Mixed results from 111 calls.
Some have been helpful, getting appointments at out of hours clinics.
Other experiences have been life threatening: telling DH to wait until 8 am and ring his gp after he’d stopped urinating. Two calls to 111 and a 999 call later saw him end up in A&E,
Telling DD to take GD 7 see her gp on the Monday when GD was showing what we now know are the classic signs of diabetes one Saturday. GD, undiagnosed at the time, was in DKA, a life threatening complication of diabetes. DD finally got an ooh appointment and the out of hours doctor sent her straight to A&E.

In my experience 111 is great for adult issues when you're unsure where to go but not for kids. Their triage system is just terrible for kids, especially babies.

It is in Australia.

Anyway, I hope your baby is feeling much better now op.
I agree that the service isn't the best. I've only ever called them twice and it was a waste of time.

I dunno. We called. They arranged for an ambulance.

What do you mean? Of course a 6 week old baby with a swollen face needs a medical opinion. Especially at night time. At the very least, the parents need reassurance that it’s ok to let them sleep!

Why do you feel the need to belittle the op on this? What do you have to gain from expressing this opinion? Had you considered the above? Did you just feel like being mean?

I have used 111 recently - I got a call back then a video call then a prescription waiting for me at a local chemist - all within 1 1/2 hours
I couldn't fault it IME

It’s as bad as NHS Direct used to be. I don’t bother with it.

This is so wrong when the first four hours are crucial. And time will be spent at the hospital admitting, doing tests etc.

These things are often a victim of their own success. Every dimwit, every overly anxious type, the lonely, etc etc ring up and the skill mix there find it difficult to tell the difference. You’re competing against all those, the ones that phone up every time they stub their toe or have diarrhoea, for a limited resource.