NHS 111

My Brother told me to phone 111 first as he was in chronic pain with his kidney, I am a carer to my Mother who has Alzheimer's and Bedridden so can't be left. My Brother was doubled up with pain ,they said they have assessed him and told him to get to A&E within the next hour he told them of his situation he couldn't drive with pain and I couldn't take him "hence "couldn't leave Mom he said any chance of a Ambulance and they said No you will have to make your own way get a taxi it was 4 .00 am in the morning and we couldn't get hold of a taxi fortunately we managed to wake up my other Brother who lives 1/2 hour away he took my Brother to the hospital screaming in pain and left him at the hospital unable to go in with him my other Brother had to leave him we understand because of Covid but when my sick Brother was being transferred from one hospital to another by Ambulance the driver was appalled to hear what 111 had told him he said there would have been an Ambulance available and My Brother ended up having a serious operation on his kidney luckily he got to A&E in time to be given temporary treatment but it could have been far more serious because 111 would not Authorise an Ambulance. In future I personally will not be using this service as I found it to be a waste of time not only the Ambulance problem but the time it took for a qualified Nurse to ring us to tell us what we already knew ! Waste of time and unreliable. Further more the Ambulance driver doing hospital transfer told my Brother its a disgrace because at the time they told my Brother there wasn't a Ambulance available that Ambulance driver was called out to someone who had a headache not a serious kidney problem.

I had a particularly bad experience last October. I am in my 60s and live alone, but despite the fact that I had suddenly been struck by severe dizziness (akin to being on fairground ride) which rendered me unable to get up off the floor and caused me to vomit profusely every time I tried to stand. I dialed NHS 111 and they were not helpful at all.

Spoke to 4 individuals and given incoherent advice throughout. One dental nurse advised that we took my severely disabled mother who was in severe pain with a broken tooth and exposed nerves to the Dental Hosptial as a walk in on a day that they were actually closed! Followed swiftly by another call who knew nothing about the previous call back ? (I thought these were all logged on a system!) referred us to an out of hours Emergency dentist that could not then treat her because of her physical disabilities, which we had already repeatedly advised all parties of. Then found also this 111 referred ‘emergency dental service’ was actually a private clinic and she (despite being on benefits entitling her to free care) was obliged to pay their private fees! Absolutely shocking dental service in this area! And very very poor support and service from 111.

My twin brother was advised by 111 to not go to the hospital because there was no swelling on his foot. turns out he had fractured his metatarsal bone in his foot. Time frame between the phone call and going to GP was 2 weeks because his foot was in too much pain.

I phoned NHS 111 due to symptoms of faecal impaction (already diagnosed). The on call Dr called an ambulance to take me to Sandwell Hospital, although I live in South Birmingham. I explained I had Borderline Personality Disorder and said I was feeling stressed due to the impaction; the Dr said that my mental health was not relevant to the referral. He sent the ambulance to a hospital I did not know, rather than the QE (or Heartlands) which I do. I felt extremely confused, resulting in me having a public breakdown in A&E.

My daughter recently had to call 111 due to being in the middle of a sustained asthma attack. The health advisor was brilliant, she put me onto a paramedic who advised me he was sending an ambulance. The hospital, paramedics and all NHS staff were amazing.

Rang 111 as was told to by my GP practice to call them as they had no appointments. Spoke to 111 who assessed me as needing an urgent GP appointment within 2 hours. Then I phoned the GP back who had no appointments... Felt like I was stuck in a loop! Thankfully my GP did then phone me and arranged for me to be seen in the morning, but wish 111 had been more helpful signposting to out of hours care instead.

I had a dental problem on Saturday and as my dentist wasn't open was advised by NHS 111 that I would need to see a dentist within 24 hours. They gave me two emergency dentists details and neither of them were open, and neither do emergency appointments. I phoned NHS 111 back and was told that someone would call me back within 2 hours. 6.5 hours later I had still not heard back, so had to phone them again. Luckily my symptoms had calmed down by the time they rung back. The dental nurse who called was unable to update systems so that wrong information is not given out to others.