111 Absolutely flipping useless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter Noorza
- Start date
The doctor says the back pain is nothing sinister thank goodness and she's been put on iron tablets to add to her other cocktail of drugs that keep her going. So a big relief the pain and exhaustion weren't indicators of anything worse happening.
Got it NHS Direct is shocking I used their on line assessment tool. I couldn't even get to chest pains, it told me to call the diabetic nurse. So whether it's the site or the telephone, it's all not just useless, it's dangerous.
Oh dear. I don't know what to suggest. Mind you I am surprised NHS Direct is still going as I thought it had all changed to NHS 111 and there you can pose a question and a nurse will get back to you its called click something!
I'll just 999 it if in doubt, this government should apologise for the shambles they've made of this. This time I managed to talk to the GP who advised me not to worry but I wanted a NHS 111 moan anyway because they've wrecked what was a really good service.
"...I am surprised NHS Direct is still going..."
Depends where you live.
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en/About/WhatIsNHSDirect/0845areas
Another post code lottery - but not sure which the best prize is!!
I am a nurse who works as a telephone advice nurse- not for NHS Direct obviously, since I'm in Canada. Perhaps I can explain the reason we can't triage symptoms when a caller is not with the patient when they call.
When we do telephone triage, we are trying to assess the level of urgency of the caller's symptoms. We need to ask questions about how the patient looks and their behaviour. In the case of chest pain, we ask questions about signs of laboured breathing, or colour and temperature of the skin. If you aren't with the patient, you cannot accurately observe and report these things. Symptoms can change in seconds, so unless you are right there with your mum, we cannot be sure that what you describe is still happening, or if things have gotten worse.
Legally, if we triaged a patient as non-urgent based on your description (if you weren't with your mum when you called) and your mum had actually gotten worse since you called...can you see how this would be dangerous?
Where I work, we can give general information about chest pain to a caller like yourself who was calling about her mum who wasn't with her, but we could not legally give advice on whether she needed care and how urgently. For example, we could describe the symptoms of a heart attack so that you could make your own decision about what to do for your mum.
Our mandate is not to make decisions for the caller, but to give information and try to help callers make safe decisions about their care.
I hope this helps in some way.
When we do telephone triage, we are trying to assess the level of urgency of the caller's symptoms. We need to ask questions about how the patient looks and their behaviour. In the case of chest pain, we ask questions about signs of laboured breathing, or colour and temperature of the skin. If you aren't with the patient, you cannot accurately observe and report these things. Symptoms can change in seconds, so unless you are right there with your mum, we cannot be sure that what you describe is still happening, or if things have gotten worse.
Legally, if we triaged a patient as non-urgent based on your description (if you weren't with your mum when you called) and your mum had actually gotten worse since you called...can you see how this would be dangerous?
Where I work, we can give general information about chest pain to a caller like yourself who was calling about her mum who wasn't with her, but we could not legally give advice on whether she needed care and how urgently. For example, we could describe the symptoms of a heart attack so that you could make your own decision about what to do for your mum.
Our mandate is not to make decisions for the caller, but to give information and try to help callers make safe decisions about their care.
I hope this helps in some way.
Thanks for that but no it doesn't help because we had a terrific service called NHS Direct where they would take the details from a third party whether with or without the patient and give advise on what should be done. Clearly they weren't going to diagnose but they most certainly did advise.
For example. Last year my mum's hands and feet went blue. My sister, a nurse, told mum she had nothing to worry about and didn't need to get any help. The next morning mum told me this story and I was horrified but not medically trained. (Sister also tried to get mum's life support switched off 10 years ago and I wouldn't let her) so I don't trust her.
I called NHS direct they took all of the symptoms as I knew them to be with extremeties still blue, they told me she must be seen immediately by the hospital, that I was to call an ambulance and not wait.
This new 111 NON service wouldn't even talk to me.
So no it's not what we're used to.
The other problem we have with 111 is that when they actually will talk to you, the operators are not nurses, they are administrative people who put the answers onto a form and see what comes up.
These people decide if a nurse needs to call you back, prior you would be assessed by a medically trained person.
People have died as a result of our disgraceful 111 non service. Our 111 service is a major contributor to massively increased waiting times in A&E as people like me can't use it as we did NHS Direct to have to dial 999 instead.
Thanks though I appreciate your response.
