"Not the best experience."

I contacted NHS24 one Sunday for some advice re my partner who had come home from work on the Friday feeling generally unwell. His symptoms appeared viral and he was being treated with painkillers, fluids and bed rest.  His symptoms hadn't improved after a couple of days so I phoned NHS24 for some advice and spoke to a pleasant call handler who then put me through to a nurse.  After reviewing his symptoms the nurse suggested that I continue with the above treatment and if things worsened I should call his GP.

By the Monday he seemed to be slightly better but he then appeared to get worse by the time I came home from work on the Tuesday. As the GP surgery was closed I decided to call NHS24 again.  This time however, I was connected to a very snippy call handler.  When I stated that I'd called on the Sunday but was now getting a bit worried this person wanted to know why I hadn't called the GP? He had seemed ok on the Monday but by the Tuesday evening he seemed to be a bit disorientated and the surgery was now closed.

 I suggested that he may need his bloods checked and the call handler wanted to know why I would think that that would be required?  Their tone of voice was rude and condescending. After speaking to my partner they put him on hold and came back and said they were confident that his symptoms were just viral and to continue with painkillers etc. This was after him stating that he felt short of breath and had some chest pain. This person was also asking him about pain relief, however he was getting a bit muddled so I asked to speak to them to clarify, after I explained what he'd been taking I got an " Ok" as if to say yeah yeah, so you can put the patient back on.

I'd previously mentioned that he had a GP appointment on the Wednesday at 5pm which had been made for something else entirely, so we were told to keep that appointment if he still didn't feel good. We went to the GP at Adam Avenue in Airdrie and the Doctor there felt he had a right sided lung infection and prescribed antibiotics and to call back if he got any worse.  By the Friday he was in more pain so we called the GP again, after reviewing the information we were given an emergency appointment.  We were then given a letter to take to A&E at Monklands Hospital as the second Doctor thought he had pneumonia, his oxygen saturations were 87% and he thought a chest X-Ray and blood test were required.  After a long day he is now receiving the correct treatment of oral and intravenous antibiotics and will probably need a few days in hospital.

I understand that any advice can only be given with the information available but I would appreciate being spoken to in a nicer tone and not be questioned as I was.  I should also have had the opportunity to speak to a clinician during the second call.

I also work in the NHS and expect better, I can understand why we get so many disgruntled relatives when there are staff with attitudes like that. I hung up from the second NHS24 call feeling like I shouldn't have bothered them and to be honest I should just have taken him to A&E at that point.  Next time I will.