Virtually every time I’ve called NHS Direct, they’ve called an ambulance. This was always much to the annoyance of the ambulance crew because I was so far from dieing. Eventually an ambulance crew advised me to phone docters on call because NHS Direct is useless.
Someone told me “The NHS Direct was absolutely awful! I rang them up because i was having severe pain in my kidneys, which turned out to be kidney stones. I wasnt sure at that time if it warranted a 999 call, so i rang them up. They said ‘take some paracetomol’. Now anyone who has had kidney stones or knows of someone who has, will tell you it’s the worst pain you can get! Paracetomol was no use. I eventually got a lift in to the local A&E and explaineed my problem and told them that i rang the NHS 24 hr helpline. They said and I quote “don’t waste your time ringing them, you should just come straight to hospital.”"
So if you call NHS Direct and it’s not an emergency they’ll call an ambulance and if it is an emergency they’ll tell you to take some paracetomol!
I’ve heard it said that “27000 people day use the NHS direct therefore it is needed” but just because 27000 people day use the NHS direct doesn’t mean it is needed. More people than that use a mobile phone a day but they’re obviously not needed because 30 years ago nobody had one.
Trained nurses are better on the front line than acting like call centre operators.
