With demand for 999 calls increasing and St Mary’s Hospital Emergency Department helping more people, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust is encouraging the public, where appropriate, to use NHS 111 online for medical advice.
The NHS 111 online service offers people quick advice on the best option for them to get the care they need, including getting a call back from a trained clinician, booking them an arrival time at A&E or providing advice on how to help them recover. The request comes as demand for emergency medical support continues to rise.
The Isle of Wight Ambulance Service received 528 emergency 999 calls last week – 24.5% higher than in the same week in 2019 before the pandemic, with call handlers reporting some 999 calls in recent days have been for non-emergency issues such as sunburn, insect bites and domestic flooding.
People are also being reminded to use NHS 111 first before turning up at the A&E department. NHS 111 can ensure people are directed to the right location for their care.
Victoria White, Head of Ambulance said:
“Our frontline ambulance crews, 999 and 111 call handlers and the many other teams who ensure we can respond to patients as quickly as possible are working extremely hard as we see continued increase demand for our services.
“We are prioritising those patients that are most sick and severely injured and everyone who needs an ambulance will get one, however there are other and often better options for people to get the care they need.
“As has been the case throughout the pandemic, the public can play their part by using 111 online for urgent advice, calling 999 in life threatening cases and calling back only if their condition worsens.”
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The public is still being encouraged to contact 999 if they experience:
- signs of a heart attack like a pain like a heavy weight in the centre of your chest
- signs of stroke such as your face dropping on one side
- difficulty breathing
- heavy bleeding that won’t stop
- seizures or
- sudden and rapid swelling of the eyes, lips, throat or tongue.
A number of factors are thought to be contributing to the rise in demand for emergency care including the recent warmer weather, an increase in Covid-19 transmission rates in the community and an increase in the public spending time outside as restrictions ease.
Joe Smyth, Chief Operating Officer said:
“The pressures we are witnessing on our Ambulance Service impact the Emergency Department here at St. Mary’s Hospital. We are pleased to be able to provide the 111 service to our Island community, including the online support. It allows us to direct people to the most appropriate care setting for their treatment.
“You should continue to use 999 if you have a serious or life-threatening condition or accident. However, when you think you need A&E, use NHS 111 first. It may well save you a trip to the hospital, and if you do need to attend it is likely to reduce the time for you to be seen.”
People can access 111 online at www.111.nhs.uk.
Also pop to your chemist. They can help with a lot of stuff without having to go to the doctors.
No wonder when GPs have done a disappearing act for over a year. If you have a chest infection an ambulance gets called and where are the doctors at the medical centres. They have refurbished all the seating at my centre why when all you really need are a few armchairs as that’s how many people you see in there
Hardly surprising when all the gp’s are refusing to leave the golf course and actually do some work .
I’ve heard a few people who have gone to A&E because they can’t get to see their G.P or have been told to go by 111 then A&E have said your G.P should have seen you for this. The G.Ps are putting A&E under unnecessary stress and same for opticians who are seeing people sent by G.Ps rather than seeing them in surgery. It seems they’ll send you anywhere possible rather than them see you. A&E are getting fed up with it ,must be very frustrating for them ,maybe they need to tell G.Ps to start pulling their weight and work for their money same as them.
Well said, A&E has become a dumping ground by GP’s and other departments who have decided not to work nights or weekends. There seems to be a culture in our trust and district nurses where departments can decide health care only happens during office hours, meanwhile, A&E and the ambulance service get it 24/7.
Problem is GP’s are so highly paid they only need to work part time. Not like the good old days, Doctors as they were called were on call 24 hours a day.
All the GPs are preparing themselves for Privatisation and have been throughout this Covid. Do your research.
Yes that’s when doctors treated it as a calling .They must know when they’re training its not a 9 to 5 job same as most jobs these days but definitely a job where the ultimate aim is to potentially save someones life. One doctor has their own cosmetic clinic so you can see him for botox but not in his surgery can’t get much more face to face than that!
Call 111 and they just put you into the loop of either call an ambulance, attend A&E if you can get there (if not, call an ambulance), go to your GP (impossible to get an appointment). After a few days of agony I got a call back from my GP (or rather the practice nurse) who said call an ambulance or attend A&E under your own steam.
I went private in the end as I had no choice. 8 months of recovery and private physio appointments later it is improving.
Thanks NHS for giving me back nothing after paying full stamp for 50 years……
half those calling 999 are weak whiny snowflakes that have the bar set very low for what the definition of an emergency is.
attention seeking time wasters most of them
Agreed,,,,the word “emergency’ means just that, trouble is, the 111 system panders to them and dispatch ambulances to these flakes.
sounds about right Kate
Try living with a ruptured gluteus minimus which resulted in surgery without calling 111…..
(No, I didn’t take the offered ambulance)
Just as well I didn’t end up at St Mary’s though as the chance of them diagnosing it correctly would have been very slim…
me,me me
Troll, Troll,Troll
Half the Time 111 does not work no dialing tone useless
And have call 999 to get a Duty Doctor after 8pm
District Nurse work 8am to 8pm
you are exactly the sort of person they are trying to get rid of – the pest caller
111 works fine – if you can get connected on 999, then 111 will work just fine – you are an impatient time waster, that is blocking 999 from a real emergency.