Dear LPG,

We have all been given the message that we should only bother 999 if it is an emergency, but I have a history of heart problems which makes it very difficult for me to work out exactly how serious it is when I experience pain and any other unusual sensations.  Not so long ago after two days of not feeling ‘right’, I tried to telephone my GP for an appointment but if you miss that one time in the day when you have to be on the phone it appears that you have missed your opportunity to even talk to one of the office staff until the next day.   I know I am talking from personal experience but I have spoken to enough friends about this to know that it is the same for so many others.

I then tried 111 where I waited for what seemed like ages to get through to someone who seemed nice and helpful enough, although the wait in my state of health seemed like it took ages and the many questions I was asked were made even more difficult to answer because of the disorientation that resulted from my illness.  Eventually they decided to send me an ambulance which took me strait to A&E, and though I ended up in hospital for the next three days, my situation could have been worse.

While making decisions about which service to talk to and then waiting with all the issues that my state of health left me with, it took me well over 30 minutes to get as far as talking to someone who came to the conclusion that I needed the help of a medic.  This was all going on while I was in a state where it was impossible for me to work out just how serious my condition was or how much time it was all taking. 

I watched a report on television that discussed this recently and a lot of information was covered.  The discussion was about how long it takes to even get through to 999 these days.  A lot was said about how many people call out the ambulance unnecessarily and the waiting-time knock-on effect that was the reason for such delays.   That spurred me on to take a look at the internet to work out exactly what constitutes a life threatening emergency. 

I still think that asking people who do not have medical knowledge to start weighing up the consequences of just how serious such situations are is one more dilemma to add to an already traumatic time for the ignorant,  and the information about what constitutes a dire situation is quite vague.   While we lay people do have some idea about the obvious, where the system is abused, I wonder if anyone who is anywhere near feeling bad enough to feel that they have to phone for medical help is in any fit state to be working out how severely their lives are to being threatened, and I would not want to be the lay person watching someone else suffering some sort of health crisis.  How would a passer-by  feel if making a call to the wrong service cost the time that it might have taken to save someone else’s life?

WR, Bellingham

WR shares the NHS guidelines about when to call an ambulance…

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