How useful is the NHS 111 number, in your experience?

When I had tonsillitis I couldn't move my neck or swallow (I didn't know what it was at this point) so I was told to ring them, They were incredibly helpful and booked me an emergency appointment at the hospital the same night around 11pm, I was crying on the phone idk if that made a difference haha

Well I've called them a couple times when little accidents happen, like when my little brother fell and his tooth came out, they just told us to take him to the dentist asap x'D

super useful lol

They're good in that they give people an idea of whether they need to go to A&E, to make an out of hours GP appointment or to just make a normal GP one as soon as they can. Which is pretty much what they're there for, to take pressure off the emergency departments and assess if someone's likely to be serious. They're not medical professionals though so they will be wrong sometimes and people need to be aware of that.

I've only used them once (or my dad did for me) but as soon as the words 'chest pain' and 'breathing' were mentioned they said A&E. I'm badly asthmatic though so it's kind of my normal


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The only time I ever used it was for MH issues and it was when my panic disorder and OCD was at its highest last year and I pretty much at my wits end and felt like I was going around the bend after having constant panics, no sleeping of eating due to extreme anxiety and I couldn't function and all they told me to do was see my GP the next day which felt like light years away. I was breaking my heart to them and even demanding to be sectioned and then told me to take a propanolol (or however you spell it) and I told them I couldn't take any meds due to my OCD contamination fears and they said they didn't know how else to help me so I just had to deal with it on my own and saw my GP the next day who thankfully made an urgent referral for my OCD therapy. I don't know what I expected them to do in my situation and I know they can't magically cure me but when you are at rock bottom and you are told they dont know how they can help you, it really didn't help.

Never used them for physical health reasons. My mum would just take me straight to A&E or my GP if I were physically ill as she was a nurse so knows enough about physical health to know when its serious.

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It says that the staff who tend to the 111 calls are all trained NHS nurses, though?


This is what worries me; the people like us who call the NHS 111 number with mental health conditions, who aren't able to be offered the right help at the time of making the call, and are instead just told to make a GP appointment at the first available moment. A lot of mental health illness sufferers aren't always able to do that.

I think it'd be great if there was a 24 hour NHS helpline for mental health issues in particular. A lot of the physical issues that have already been mentioned on this thread can either be solved by a 999 call, or by making a GP appointment; mental health is an entirely different ball game, however.

They're good in that they give people an idea of whether they need to go to A&E, to make an out of hours GP appointment or to just make a normal GP one as soon as they can.

It says that the staff who tend to the 111 calls are all trained NHS nurses, though?


This is what worries me; the people like us who call the NHS 111 number with mental health conditions, who aren't able to be offered the right help at the time of making the call, and are instead just told to make a GP appointment at the first available moment. A lot of mental health illness sufferers aren't always able to do that.

I think it'd be great if there was a 24 hour NHS helpline for mental health issues in particular. A lot of the physical issues that have already been mentioned on this thread can either be solved by a 999 call, or by making a GP appointment; mental health is an entirely different ball game, however.

It says that the staff who tend to the 111 calls are all trained NHS nurses, though?

I guess for MH stuff they'd rather people use samaritans?

There is.

Where?

When I had tonsillitis I couldn't move my neck or swallow (I didn't know what it was at this point) so I was told to ring them, They were incredibly helpful and booked me an emergency appointment at the hospital the same night around 11pm, I was crying on the phone idk if that made a difference haha

I found them utterly useless. They just told me to go see my gp; I mean, I don't have a degree in medicine but I'd managed to work that out myself thanks.

I guess it's good if you've got a symptom of something serious but don't realise it. Like, if you had a really stiff neck, headache and fever but didn't know that probably meant meningitis I guess it'd be helpful?

Well I've called them a couple times when little accidents happen, like when my little brother fell and his tooth came out, they just told us to take him to the dentist asap x'D

super useful lol

What else were you expecting a helpline to do in this situation? Verbally talk you through a dental procedure?

They're good in that they give people an idea of whether they need to go to A&E, to make an out of hours GP appointment or to just make a normal GP one as soon as they can. Which is pretty much what they're there for, to take pressure off the emergency departments and assess if someone's likely to be serious. They're not medical professionals though so they will be wrong sometimes and people need to be aware of that.

I've only used them once (or my dad did for me) but as soon as the words 'chest pain' and 'breathing' were mentioned they said A&E. I'm badly asthmatic though so it's kind of my normal


Posted from TSR Mobile

I used this a few months ago when struggling with mental health difficulties, and it didn't strike me as being all that helpful/useful. On at least two occasions that I've used it, all they seemed to advise me to do was to arrange an appointment with a GP as soon as was possible, instead of offering any actual medical advice or information on medical services - which seems quite daft, since the whole point of having a 24 hour NHS number is so that it can be of use to you even outside of the opening hours of a GP surgery.

Has anyone else on here had similar (or perhaps even worse) experiences with this service?

Not useful, they sound like their asleep and give generic answers. But I still use them just for peace of mind as its better than nothing.

Its what you get for free lol

The only time I ever used it was for MH issues and it was when my panic disorder and OCD was at its highest last year and I pretty much at my wits end and felt like I was going around the bend after having constant panics, no sleeping of eating due to extreme anxiety and I couldn't function and all they told me to do was see my GP the next day which felt like light years away. I was breaking my heart to them and even demanding to be sectioned and then told me to take a propanolol (or however you spell it) and I told them I couldn't take any meds due to my OCD contamination fears and they said they didn't know how else to help me so I just had to deal with it on my own and saw my GP the next day who thankfully made an urgent referral for my OCD therapy. I don't know what I expected them to do in my situation and I know they can't magically cure me but when you are at rock bottom and you are told they dont know how they can help you, it really didn't help.

Never used them for physical health reasons. My mum would just take me straight to A&E or my GP if I were physically ill as she was a nurse so knows enough about physical health to know when its serious.

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How easy is it to make an out of hours GP appointment? I didn't even realise you could do that.

They're not trained medical professionals are they, though?


How does that work? Like, so you could call 999 for mental health issues?