Three hour wait for NHS 24.

[Gingerkittykat]

I'm currently an hour into waiting to get through to 111 in Scotland and was told at the beginning of the call that wait times were at least three hours, that's just to speak to a call handler.

I've got pneumonia and feel worse since my antibiotics stopped yesterday, I feel dizzy, hot and wheezy (I have asthma) and am coughing up phlegm. Part of me feels like I am wasting their time and I can wait till the GP opens on Monday.

It definitely isn't helping that I can't keep the air in the house properly warm, It's at least above freezing now which makes it painful to breathe.

Good luck - sending you love xx

Cut or the middle man and ring 999.

Also in Scotland. Took me 45 minutes on Monday this week to get through to a call handler on NHS24 for my DC.

I hope you don't have too much longer to wait 🤞 possibly may need to call 999 if your symptoms worsen though. Trust your gut instinct.

You have pneumonia that hasn’t responded to oral antibiotics. You’ll likely need IV antibiotics. Go straight to hospital. Don’t wait for a call handler to then wait for a clinician to call you back. That could be 6, 8, 12 or even more hours delaying treatment.

my uncle had a heart attack 2 weeks ago and when 999 was called they were asked if they had any other way to get to hospital as it would potentially be an hours wait for an ambulance

Sorry I was trying to reply to the 999 comment

I've heard A and E is chaotic so I could end up waiting even longer to be seen than via 111.

I don't think it is an A and E type emergency, the only advantage I can see is they would probably be able to give me a chest Xray which my GP ordered on Monday but I've not had an appointment yet.

That's horrible, I hope your uncle is making a good recovery now.

If you're struggling. A&E or 999 if you really feel that bad.

I finally got through and the call handler put me through to a nurse pretty quickly. I'm waiting on the OOH hub to phone me with an appointment.