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

Maybe it's regional but they were super helpful when I'd had my baby and had severe postnatal depression. They got a doctor to speak to me and realised I was the ill one.

I had to call them yesterday (got cleaning stuff in my eye). I was called back within 20 minutes.

take your baby to either A&E or your own Gp god knows why you are phoning 111 for a practical newborn !

Definitely this.

My friend has just been offered a role as a 111 call handler. Absolutely no nursing or healthcare knowledge was required. He has a background in finance..

When dh had a stroke I didn’t have the headspace for the barrage of questions I knew I’d have to answer from 111. I rang 999. A fast response motorcycle Paramedic and a Paramedic ambulance attended and he was on his way to hospital with a hour of the call.
This was during Covid.

A stroke always needs 999. It’s a waste of time to ring 111 first.

It’s a completely broken system. My mum needed urgent antibiotics for cellulitis, called 111 and they just never called her back. She ended up in A&E and waiting for another 6 hours in which time the infection had spread. She’s now been admitted to hospital for the foreseeable fighting a horrendous infection that could have been nipped in the bud had she received the medication earlier. I’m fuming and have absolutely no faith in the system anymore. It’s scary

I think 111 has its role. We've had some really good responses but sometimes what the problem is doesn't quite fit in with the questions asked and things slip through. I rang for our 15month old on Sunday and was told to have him seen within 3 days either by his own gp or a pharmacist. I initially accepted this however as the day continued I knew he wasn't well so bit the bullet and went to A&E. He's been in since on IV antibiotics for excema herpeticum. The call handler didn't do anything wrong and in many cases the guidance would have been appropriate as the symptoms were very generic and given he has a history of excema and allergies without someone seeing him it would have been hard to diagnose. I think it's a case of using them for guidance but also applying common sense.

I'm on about year 8 of waiting for them to call me back.

I actually got help from a mumsnetter who realised I needed a doctor and helped me get an appointment.

Oh dear, so many people are going to be soooo disappointed when Labour get in and can’t fix it either…

Doesn’t matter which politician is in charge - there are too many people using a service built for fewer. Too many people is the problem. The system cannot cope.

That's too simplistic and not true. My husband was very poorly and they said he needed a call back within two hours. It actually took about seven and then another nine for the ambulance to come. There just isn't the staff.

If you need 111 you might as well use the website, it asks exactly the same questions as the call centre and gives the same outcome.

Okay I have to ask, do you actually say this word out loud? In conversation? Or is it exclusively text speak?

This is where an AI really would be an improvement.

Is it regional? I've never heard anybody say it, only used online.

It's not an emergency service.
You would see a gp in a surgery within 24hours with a baby why would you expect 111 to be different?
If it was a true emergency it's 999 or a&e.

How would you make it better?

I had to call them yesterday for my mum.

Was on hold for maybe 10 -15 mins. But very though questions, and they sent an ambulance, which arrived within 30 mins.
The crew were amazing, even got her bypassing A&E and straight into ACU.

Couldn't fault anything.

@SheSaidHummingbird sometimes mainly to my baby like 'hi bubba' etc and because I have said it so much lately just wrote it in the thread lol but people seem to have a problem with it lol x

@Redcar1992 well said!

My experience with 111 has been good, in fact, excellent .
Once for me, ambulance with paramedics arrived within 45mins and I was taken to local A&E. I was admitted and in hospital for a week. I could not complain at all about the service I received.
We called 111 for my elderly mum recently after she had been discharged from local hospital but got worse and waited about an hour for a call back. Mum (77) deteriorated over that hour so we called back. Ambulance with amazing paramedics came within 15mins. Paramedics were so good at diagnosing and took her to hospital in the ambulance - we didn't know at the time but my mum had a collapsed lung due to a problem with previous operation on her oesophagus. Mum went to local A&E then transferred to specialist GI London hospital . Mum has been in hospital two months now and after many ops, is hopefully coming home next week.
The 111 call receivers who made the decision to send paramedics and an ambulance to my mum have saved her life. We've been told that it was touch and go when Mum was admitted to the London hospital. If the 111 call handlers had not sent an ambulance and paramedics, who were fabulous, my mum would not be coming out of hospital next week. She would be dead.

Telephone triage is an art, and the expectation that the scripted questions written by someone not allowed to question the caller/pick up on the cues is really going to struggle. Like others have pointed out the algorithm shouldnt have allocated you to a call back, you were concerned about an under 2 - unless the call was one of the nonsense calls they get i.e. my babies hair isn't growing as fast as I think it should be, then the baby will need to be seen face to face. Out of hours services don't see under 2s, so just signpost you to A&E was all that was needed.

111 is only useful as a service if you just need some advice about where to go for a service in your local area - i.e. i've either sprained or broken my ankle - is there a minor injuries unit I can goto for an xray, or i've got a cough and its really bad I think I need to be seen, my surgery is closed can you get me an ooh appointment anywhere locally? I really don't think anyone should use them for advice beyond signposting to local services.

As for 999, our wait times are beyond ridicules for what should be an emergency service. I've attended patients this week who've given up waiting, driven to A&E, been seen treated and discharged back home only for us to then arrive!!! Somewhat comically he then asked us to still 'check him out' since A&E didn't find anything wrong... It really should just be reserved for emergencies in which people are unable to make their own way to hospital, i mean if I personally was having chest pain which I thought could be a heart attack, but could stand and walk I'd get someone to drive me to hospital so initial triage can pick me up and send me round to ppci if meet the criteria, and be in a place of safety should i collapse/arrest.

I filled in the online form today and was told I'd have a call back within the hour. That would have been by 8.25am. I still haven't had the call.

Try waiting 18 hours for an ambulance for a housebound elderly person suspected of having a heart attack. Honestly I have zero faith in medical care in the U.K. now