"I feel the advice we were given by 111 was inadequate"

I called 111 when I became concerned about my son’s health. He has type 1 diabetes, one morning at 6: 00 am my husband and I did not hear him getting ready for work as we would usually. My husband checked on him, he was awake and responding to my husband who left him in bed for a few moments more. I then went to check as this was not like my son at all – I thought maybe he was having a hypo and gave him orange juice to treat the hypo. I became concerned when this did not seem to bring him out of the hypo and he continued to be very confused, I called 111 at this point for advice.

I was advised that my son should see a doctor within two hours, either by us taking him to his GP or to the walk-in centre. I did not feel my son was capable of making any kind of journey – at 8: 00am I called his GP. The doctor advised me to call for an ambulance immediately as my son should have reacted to the orange juice if it was a hypo he was suffering from.

Although we were told an ambulance could take around 40-45 minutes to arrive we were very fortunate that it came within minutes. The paramedics were equally confused at my son’s reactions and thought maybe he had had a stroke. My son was taken to St George’s hospital for neurological tests. Fortunately these were all clear and further tests were carried out for possible meningitis, again, thankfully these were clear.

I feel the advice we were given by 111 was inadequate, it was as if they had failed to register the Type 1 diabetes and he should have been referred for immediate, urgent treatment.