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Care Opinion

Contacting 111

Posted By lightning666

"Contacting 111"

About: South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust / NHS 111

(as a relative),

My Nan called on a Saturday in August. She was advised she would be contacted in the next 2 hours but I did not get a call. She phoned again to chase the callback and still after 2 hours nothing happened. Her rash was spreading and she was becoming in more discomfort so her friend phoned in and they completed the questions again 111 have to complete and go through. Still no call-back came and she was also advised not to take piriton or put cream on. Eventually during Saturday evening a doctor called and advised it sounded like an allergic reaction so to take piriton and to put cream on and to call again if things did not improve or they got worse. On Sunday morning when my Nan woke up she started phoning again and had to complete the 111 questions.

After 2 hours my Nan's friend phoned again quite irate and they could not find any calls for my Nan so once again the assessment was completed and due to my Nan's rash becoming worse by the minute, including spreading, a doctor soon called back and arranged a home visit which did happen and he confirmed it was an adverse allergic reaction to the new medication and to stop using it and to keep taking piriton.

Eventually my Nan was satisfied with the service but she was very disappointed and annoyed the first 2 or 3 calls were lost as it could have been something more serious and she is concerned for what would have happened to anyone who did have a more serious concern. She was happy that it didn't happen to someone who needed more urgent care, although I feel she is now questioning this.

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Responses

Response from Louise Hutchinson, Head of Patient Experience, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 5 years ago
Louise Hutchinson
Head of Patient Experience,
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 17/09/2018 at 19:54
Published on Care Opinion on 18/09/2018 at 13:46

picture of Louise Hutchinson

Dear lightning666

I was so sorry to read of the poor service your Nan experienced when she needed to call 111 last month. She must have been worried to call 111 to begin with, and I can only imagine how the lack of response must have increased her anxiety and frustration, and that of her friend, too.

We really would like the opportunity to look into the concerns you raise in order to establish what went wrong and to try to ensure this does not happen again to anyone else. If your Nan would be happy for us to do that it would be helpful to know more details about her call, such as the date and approximate times of her calls, her name and address, and the telephone number from which she dialled 111. If you can send that information, along with written consent from your Nan, as she was the patient, to our Patient Experience Team, either by email to pet@secamb.nhs.uk, or by telephone the team on 0300 123 9242, we will look into what happened and provide a full response to you.

I do hope your Nan has fully recovered from her allergic reaction and is now on a medication that suits her better, and please do pass on to her our sincere apologies and very best wishes.

Thank you very much for taking the time to feed back to us, which is much appreciated, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely, Louise Hutchinson

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