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

Actually sorry.

The process is in my region, you initially speak to a call handler, then you don’t speak to an “admin person” you speak to someone medically trained to further assess your symptoms and then you may get passed on to a GP. You won’t get times of call backs because there’s people out there calling with more serious symptoms than a sore throat who will jump the queue ahead of you. Just like if you were at A & E with a sprained ankle needing an X-ray and an ambulance brings in serious car accident victim.

Missing a call back is still on you though.

You won’t get times of call backs because there’s people out there calling with more serious symptoms than a sore throat who will jump the queue ahead of you. Just like if you were at A & E with a sprained ankle needing an X-ray and an ambulance brings in serious car accident victim.
💯 yes like the time I ran into ED with my 9 month old who was convulsing, and they literally opened the doors to the main treatment bay as they were letting someone else out and had multiple staff jump on him, and I heard someone in the waiting area whine ' there's a queueeee' fucking scariest moment of my life.

@Doingsgirl ..and this attitude is exactly why you get abuse.
OP asked why people are rude, people, including me, have explained how frustrating the system is from the patients' point of view. You can either take it on board or continue to blame the patients, and nothing changes.

Also, it wasn't a "sore throat", it was bacterial tonsillitis that had been going on for weeks, with 40C fever that wasn't going down for days even with maximum dose Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. If left untreated you can get pretty serious complications like inflammation of the heart.

The dismissive attitude, being treated like our time doesn't matter and the robotic triage by algorithm system is why people don't trust you and are angry on the phone.

Weeks? Yet you chose to call 111:on a Saturday?

A theory. Ppl either ring because they're worried and may act irrationally- not saying it's ok but we've all acted out of character when we're in pain/ worried about a loved one. Or they're attention seeking and you don't have time to placate or you're not able to diagnose and have to send them to A&E for something they expect you to help them with. Either way I'm sorry. You deserve better. Try not to take it to heart if you can ❤️

It’s lack of respect for the call handler

I pay your wage attitude

yes people get frustrated but they still choose to be rude and disrespectful

Also I'm not saying I should've been prioritised ahead of someone with more serious symptoms.
I was highlighting why the system is bad. Just to be put through the out of hours GP for a simple thing took nearly 10 hours and lots of back and forth with questions like whether I've had an organ transplant and a bunch of other irrelevant questions.
There must surely be a better way of dealing with things that aren't life threatening but that can't really wait until the regular GP opens.

Frustration, fear, stress, pain. It’s the same across healthcare, and many other industries as well. We are never meeting people on their best day.

I do think there is a culture currently that almost despises knowledge - and so asking questions that someone doesn’t understand the purpose of can make them angry. They think there’s nothing you know that they don’t know and so a question that seems pointless to them is a pointless question.

The public are vile and the worse society gets the worse it will be for anyone in a public facing role.

People can no longer access the medical care they need when they need it so it’s natural they’re going to be frustrated and vent. The only thing 111 are good at is accessing an out of hrs appointment for young children. If you’re a younger adult or elderly person your aren’t really prioritised and that can be frustrating for people. No excuse for horrible behaviour to staff though

I’m a nurse and I feel that. I go home everyday worn out, relatives pour all their emotion at us understandably, but we don’t agree with policies either such as patients being left on coridoors on our ward all day until a discharge later on gives them a bed, it’s out of our control and I wouldn’t want my nana laid on a coridoor either so fully understand but often it feels like they think it’s our decision

Illness doesn't follow a neat 9-5 Monday-Friday schedule. I'd been to the GP, got antibiotics, finished them, seemed to be getting better. Then from the Friday night symptoms started again and suddenly got worse. Held off until Saturday day time as I thought it would be less busy than a Friday night. Doctor said I'd done the right thing to come in.

If it was that urgent you could have called Friday night. A 14 hour turnaround on a Saturday for a sore throat is pretty good for a Saturday. 🥳

@Doingsgirl Ok, well, keep doing what you're doing, clearly the system is great and everybody's happy 🤷‍♀️

Exactly, you waited a mere 14 hours to see a Dr on a Saturday for a sore throat.

Lol. Or maybe they are desperately seeking some kind of healthcare for their young child or elderly relative having tried every avenue several times and been repeatedly fobbed off

It's not an irrelevant question though
Had you, in fact had an organ donation then there's a likely hood that you'll be on certain meds which make an infection much more serious than in someone who hasn't had a transplant

14 hours is not good by any stretch of the imagination! Although I did once wait 3 days for a call back about my sick 3 month old baby so it could be worse.

The system is appallingly bad and that's why people get annoyed

@Doingsgirl The fact you keep banging on about "sore throat" shows your lack of medical training and illustrates why people view (some) call handlers as an obstruction to getting medical help (and therefore get angry). Your whole attitude stinks. I hope you're trolling and are not really a call handler making decisions about people's healthcare.

It’s because a very large number of people are completely incapable of expressing themselves without aggression and can’t handle even a modicum of stress without totally losing it. Resilience has to be at an all time low.

”Stress” is not an excuse for acting like an arsehole or a get out of jail free card.

Anyone I’ve spoken to on 111 has been perfectly helpful, and even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t verbally abuse them. I’d raise a complaint in a reasonable fashion.

@Thekormachameleon Yes, in which case I'd be going to A&E, not waiting around on 111. My point was that there should be a simpler system for things like minor injuries, straightforward infections etc that aren't life threatening but still debilitating, rather than everyone clogging up the one call centre-style system regardless of seriousness.

They have to ask though because believe me people don't mention it
Think calling for a finger injury and missing out the fact the patient was gored by a bull in the chest
Or cut leg, omitting the fact the leg was trapped in farm machinery and no longer attached to the patient
Or going through the patients entire medical history from 1950 onwards and ending with "right now? Oh he isn't breathing"

I worked for 111 a few years back for a few years , we wasn't at that time trained in how to deal with stressed patients because we were trained to understand that most people calling 111 will be worried , in pain , scared or looking for alternative help ... finding a dentist was hugely popular back then.
Yes people can be horrible but when you think of why they're calling you can't take it personally.
I worked in retail since and I find people are far ruder because they can't find an out of stock item!
It may be frustrating for you op I get that but the people calling are In a far worse position I'm in sure , I'm not saying abuse is ok to take from a caller either by the way

I think people have every right to feel frustrated. Just with the whole system, generally.

I phoned for my Dh and I found them slow, irritating and dismissive. Having already seen a pharmacist, spoken to 2 x GP's and gone to 2 x walk in centres, as told to do. We got nothing out of it. In the end I took him to A&E and I'm glad I did, he was omitted to a ward for 3 days.

When someone is in pain, we want quick help to ease the pain. When you think about it, that's is a basic need and want that should be fulfilled. You'd struggle to persuade me otherwise.

not that it makes it right and its only some people but people wonder why govts dont give a hoot at times when the general public behaves the way they do

While the frustration of navigating healthcare systems, particularly in times of distress, is legitimate, it is important to place this frustration in the context of the broader public health system. The NHS 111 service exists to perform a vital function in managing and triaging healthcare needs across the population. Criticism of the system should be balanced with an understanding of the complex processes it must follow to ensure patient safety and resource efficiency.

Moreover, verbal abuse directed at frontline healthcare workers is never justified. Healthcare workers operate within the constraints of their role, and their purpose is to assist, not to provide immediate solutions to every caller’s issue.

For these reasons, rather than directing anger at NHS 111, it is more productive to channel energy into advocating for systemic improvements within the healthcare framework, ensuring better resourcing and more streamlined processes for all patients.