Has NHS direct actually helped anyone???

[charmedhay]

Have any of you actually been helped by NHS direct or just been advised to see doctor anyway??

No complaints here. Organised for me twice to see out of hours GP with DD (tonsillitus and gastro bug) Sent me straight to A & E when she had a reaction to peanuts. Nurses have always called back promptly, except when it's something trivial - eg the time her toenail dropped off!

I've found the nurses on NHSD to be excellent and very helpful. My problem came when they forwarded me to the Out of Hours service and I had to deal with this utter tosser of a GP But don't think NHSD can be held responsible for that.

Yes I have twice.

Once when I thought I was having a miscarriage (and so did they) the doctor called out an ambulance to me and got me a bed in the hospital there and then.

Another, less important time, when dh and I were stuck in a hotel room with the most awful stomach bug and we needed to get home, dh was trying to get me to take Immodium but I knew you shouldn't take it if the diarrhoea is caused by a bug, and the very nice lady on the line confirmed I was right and got dh off my back.

I'm an ex NHSdirect nurse, and while I'm happy to see its helped a lot of you on this thread, when actually working there, I can see many flaws in the system. The initial call is taken by a call handler or "health advisor", who has no medical training. Many who I worked with were fantastic, others.... well... not so much.
A favourite memory was a young male call handler who was in training. He took a call from a lady who felt she had a tampax stuck. He actually said to her "Whats a tampax??!!"

Just a tip Rosealbie about NHSdirect, and out of hours GP services - if they are one and the same, although they have diff phone numbers, its worth calling the GP number cos calls to them are given a higher priority and a quicker call back time.

Ooh, good tip theheadgirl, will def do that next time I need to contact NHSD.

Yes! They've been good here.

I've gotten out of hours doctors appointments three times, everytime.

Once when I was 13 weeks pregnant and caught a stomach bug and was nonstop vomitting. Got straight in to see an NP, which was good because by then I was retching blood.

Most recently, I put off going to the doc and wound up w/awful ear infection. Got it sorted that day!

Also got us an appointment for DD1 as well.

good tip theheadgirl. I only realised it was one and the same after calling the GP number. However, now if in need I will always call GP number.

They haven't helped, but they have delayed me going to A&E, when I should have just got in the car and gone.
After 45 mins on the phone to NHS Direct, trying to calculate whether DS2 had OD on Calpol the nurse asked me if I'd actually seen him drink it. "NO OF COURSE I BLOODY DIDN'T"