Am I going to be OK? (NHS 24)

Member Name: drewboy

Product:	NHS 24
Date:	28/01/06 (804 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 24hr service, no waiting times, helpful staff .

Disadvantages: None

I don’t know about you, but when I feel unwell, I have a large tendency to fear the worse and think that I am at best going to suffer my symptoms for a long time or at worse end up in hospital or something similar. For me, I think it is a personality trait and while maybe not a great one, it is there and can cause panic and distress at times that I could be doing with knowing that everything will be ok.

Up until a couple of years ago, if something like this were to have happened to me, I would most likely sit in a blind panic over what to do. Since I know that I can be this way, I would try my hardest not to get my flatmate to drive me to A & E as I really didn’t want to waste their time however this would just make me get even more worried as I would not be in a position to know if it would pass or not and a couple of times I have went along to the local hospital just to put my mind at ease. However, when the flatmate I had who could drive moved out, I was a bit worried about what I would do if I had any problems in the middle of the night again.

Thankfully, the NHS 24 service was set up.

The service is similar to what you guys down south will know as NHS Direct. First set up in Grampian in 2002, the service has steadily grown through their ‘roll out’ and now handles more that 50,000 call per month.

What does it do then?
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I think the most basic function of the service is really to provide some advice to people who need it outside of their GP’s business hours as in area’s where the service is provided, when you phone your GP at out of office hours, you are automatically transferred to them. I personally have never actually phoned my surgery other to make appointments so really don’t know how much help this has been however for people who do use phone their GP’s during the day are most likely to have found this useful. It also means that these people can now use this service through the day for their problems meaning that the doctors are free to carry out consultations.

It is much more than this though. It can also provide useful health information for things such as healthy eating, giving up smoking, advise on drug abuse, the number for late night chemists and a whole host of other things.

What Happens when I phone?
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Well, the first thing to mention would be the number. It is 08454 242424 (text phone 18001 08454242424) and it is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The aim to answer 90 % all calls within 30 seconds, and so far, their record sits at 98%, which is very impressive. I have never had to wait to get through to them, and hold time is kept to the bare minimum when you speak to them. They also work on a virtual basis so that if the call centre in your area is busy, then another one can pick up the call to avoid any queues from forming.

First point of call will be a call handler. The call handlers job is to take a few basic details from you (name, address, telephone number, GP and any medication you are on) and then ask you what you are calling for. Depending on that, they will then refer you to the correct person to help with your problem. They can refer you to one of three different people, if you are having a serious problem they will refer you to the Scottish Ambulance Service. If it is still a medical problem, but they don’t think you would need immediate medical attention, they will refer to to one of the nurses they have in the call centre. If it is just for general health advice, they can put you through to a health advisor who will give you the advise that you need (i.e smoking, late night chemists etc).

Every time I have phoned, I have been put through to a nurse. The total number of calls that are referred to the Ambulance Service or A & E comes to about 5% of the total calls so it is good to know that the service is able to deal with so many calls itself, which has resulted in less time being wasted by the overstretched Ambulance staff.

The nurses, while not actually being able to diagnose illnesses, are able to give advice based on what you tell them and give you details of what you can do to help. If they think you should see someone, they are able to arrange for the out of hours GP on duty from your practise to call you and arrange to come and see you. They also of course, refer you to the Ambulance Service or local A & E if they think this action is required.

I have found the nurses to be brilliant. It’s all done on a first name basis, and so far each one I have talked to has done a fantastic job in calming me down. On one occasion, not long after I was diagnosed with suffering from panic attacks, I phoned up at about 4am in such a state you would not believe it. The nurse I was put though to was very understanding and due to the fact that I knew that that was what I was having, there was very little he could do but confirm that I was right and talk to me until I calmed down. He offered me advise on things that I could do to help me calm down in the first instance and then offered talked to me about other ways to deal with them. The problem in that instance was that my beta blockers had had no effect whatsoever and this had made me even worse, initially thinking that there must be something else. He calmly explained that that medication will not always be effective and that if they were not working, then it would be a good idea to go back to my GP and discuss other options. He also arranged for information on stress and panic attacks to be sent to me, which arrived a few days later.

The most recent time I phoned (Thursday morning at 5am) was due to me taking to many of my anti depressants (prescribed after the above incident) by mistake. I wouldn’t say that I was having an attack, but I was pretty damn worried about the consequences and had experienced some pretty bad side effects. I went through the process and got put through to a lovely nurse called Liz who took the exact details of my pills, looked them up comparing the doses, and came back to me to tell me that I would be fine. She told me what I could expect in terms of side effects and told me that if they were still happening after a certain time to contact my GP. She even said that she would fax the details to my GP so that it could be kept on file. Again, she was so nice and did a very good job of reassuring me that everything would be ok.

I must point out at this point that if you would rather that your GP was not made aware of your call, you can opt for this and the service will treat your enquiry confidentially.



All in all, I think this is an excellent service and I for one would miss it tremendously if it were not there. The service they give is second to non and for me, the off shoot that the emergency services are left to deal with more serious calls is fantastic. I can honestly not think of any drawbacks or cons at all and would urge everyone to have a note of their number handy to call for any health related problems or questions.

They also have an excellent website at www.nhs24.com which gives information on the service.

Oh, and also for those not in Scotland, the NHS Direct number is 08454647 although I cannot comment on this service as it is not available up here but I would imagine it works along the same principle.

Thanks for reading and take care ya’all!

drew

Summary: An impressive, and useful service.