Being vile to 111

[111hell]

Can anyone shed light on why people are so awful to 111? It's a triage job to assist you in getting help. That's it, yes the questions may feel stupid but the tool rules out possible outcomes. I have never been spoken to the way I have working for 111. People are just vile. Honestly it's soul destroying

I have used the 111 service several times and have always received a fantastic service. Thank you OP for being part of it. I have a chronic condition which always seems to flare up on weekends and they always find me an out of hours doctor.
I work for an arms length government body that offers free appointments to give advice on certain matters. You would not believe the complaints. "I had to wait 20 minutes to get through" "I need an appointment next Thursday at 2pm what do you mean that time is not available?" Yes the general public can be vile.

I rang 111 yesterday for the first time ever.
My mum has just had an operation and is now home.
We had some concerns as she is 81 and wasn’t coping well.
The people we spoke to were absolutely brilliant, kind and caring.
Thank you for all you do ❤️

I've attempted to use 111 on three occasions and its been utterly inhumane and useless each time.

If you don't fit neatly into a box after the scrip has been recited the handler will effectively pass you off to wherever they can get rid of you too with no concern for your health.

Utterly, utterly frustrating.

It's not right to treat people this way.

Honest answer? Because, in my experience, they're useless! One example being that crisis calls are dealt with any time up to... 72 hours.

Because, of course, nothing could possibly go wrong in that time 😏

Because they're arseholes

It's the bot like questions with no compassion that's often frustrated me.
One example I picked my son up from the grandparents (less than 10mins from my house) he wasn't well, it was out of hours so called 111 whilst my husband was driving us home.

111: Can you tell me your current location/postcode
Me: We are currently on our way home which is XXX we will be there in 2 mins
111: Are you in the car now?
Me: Yes
111: I need the postcode of where you are now, not where you will be
Me: I don't know the exact postcode of the random road I'm on round the corner from my house, but I will be home in literally 2 minutes
111: I'm sorry but without your postcode I can't help you find a service to offer assistance
Me: Put my home address as we are just round the corner now
111: Sorry I can't do that if your not at that location
Me: Ok well we are here now XXXX
111: You just said you were in the car, can you confirm you're at Xxx location.

This is why we get frustrated. Not saying it's you OP but some common sense is lacking at times.

1. some people are entitled arsholes.

2. stress/fear reaction. Not uncommon in people who are ill.

3. is likely compounded by the fact that the non clinical call handler, algorithm triage system isn’t great from a patient experience point of view. It’s unlikely to calm anyone in a fight/flight mentality down and possibly exacerbates things when people who are in that state feel like they aren’t being listened too. That’s not the fault of the call handlers it’s the fault of the system.

It’s nothing to do with “common sense” we are REQUIRED to know your exact location at the time of the call. Why do you need to call while you are in a car anyway? Can’t it wait the few minutes? We are also told to not continue calls with anyone driving until they have pulled over safely. 111 call handlers work for the ambulance service and it’s drilled into you during training to get exact locations as any call could result in a 999 outcome.

You are lying, as that is exactly how my call went

Have you listened in to every 111 call ever to make that call?

Absolutely untrue.
what an absolutely ridiculous statement.

Id keep this kind of rubbish to yourself.

I wasn't driving my husband was. The reason I had to call there and then was because I knew it would be hours until someone would get back to me. Both me and my husband work full time (I'm a HCP) so every minute counts when you're potentially having to go out into he middle of the night once someone eventually rings you back. Calling 10 mins early might be the difference between a call at midnight or 2am.

Also, although I was frustrated I remained polite.
Il also remember to memorise every postcode I ever visit in the future just incase I need to call. Thanks.

There is no need to be rude and i would assume if your phoning 111,its not an immediate life threatening situation
I do remember however when my son collapsed at home i called 999,I was very frightened and probably did raise my voice ,as I thought he was dying ,and it did turn out to be a life threatening situation ,thankfully he recovered.

I feel this thread is connected to another running at the moment where poster is embarrassed at her dd being rude and storming out of a gp appt, the mood on that appears to be 'well done her, they deserve it, that'll tell 'em'....
So backs up what a lot of pp are saying about the attitude it's acceptable and should be expected being rude to people dealing with the public!

People in public facing roles largely do a great job and no one deserves abuse whilst trying to do their job.

I volunteer with the general public weekly and as a nation, attitudes of entitlement flourish. There are some great examples of human selflessness too.

If people are vile to 111 or in A and E they shouldn’t get seen, fuck em, one way to bring the queues down.

Wonder if there was a pilot of this what would happen? It won't though as you'll get all the 'ah bless, they just can't help being rude/obnoxious/agressive/violent, poor lamb , #bekind..."

The 111 operator was vile to my daughter in law, the recording was played at her inquest. The lead barrister didn't want it playing but the coroner wanted to hear it, he threw his glasses across the floor in anger when the request was granted.n. The operator was conveniently out of the country and didn't attend,

There's no excuse for rudeness but I personally haven't found 111 helpful so I think a lot of it is frustration combined with fear and pain, exhaustion or illness. I remember one lady on here ringing them to get a death confirmed ooh. The deceased was her mum and she waited ages. They kept calling back to check in, making her go through the script and she kept having to say "no- she's still dead" to reconfirm the death. I feel in such circs, they should be able to circumvent the script.

They were awful when I woke up with frightening, sick making vertigo on a Saturday after a dreadful, dreadful headache . I'd never had it before and it was subsequently confirmed to be from a nasty inner ear infection. 111 just cruelly wasted my time for 2 days. Operators were nice so I don't blame them or their script but I felt punished and like a nuisance because due to my difficulties with movement they couldn't easily dump me on a&e.

If you read my post you will see I agree that “It's not right” to ever be rude to 111. But if the OP is interested in a discussion on why this happens, it’s helpful to understand how the triage system is perceived by callers. You can spend all your time complaining that it’s not right but it’s more helpful to understand that part of the problem is the design of the system. You can’t expect people to always slot neatly into your system like robots. It’s not realistic.

I also think the buck passing, ‘I have no say in the system’ is an unprofessional attitude. If you’re in the job you are endorsing the system. Yes it’s not your design but it’s also not ‘nothing to do with you’.

No I haven’t but I don’t Google symptoms and I do my utmost best to keep people out of A & E when the system prompts it by speaking to a medically trained professional about what’s going on with my callers.

I'm really sorry for you and hope you find sources of appreciation near you: you do a very important job. 💐It's not fair you're been treated badly.
I feel the same about any other job that requires to be dealing with general public by phone: I think not being face to face makes it easier for people to be rude and nasty (like anonymity on internet forums 😬...).

Your attitude is basically it’s not right but because it’s a shitty system be expected to be treated like crap and we absolutely do not endorse the system but unfortunately the fat cats who sit in the offices don’t really care what the users think.

I would love to know the jobs you have had over the years where you have had a say in how things are ran and how your opinion has single handedly changed a companies way of working.

Unfortunately the triage system has to be a specific way for patient safety to ensure nothing is missed and that call handlers who are not medically trained don’t give out medical advice which could be brought into court or a fatal accident enquiry.

It’s to protect them and the patients.