"Abysmal service"

I called 111 on behalf of my husband who has dementia, and on the day he had a high fever, confusion, chest pain due to a cough, and weakness. The call handler focused on the chest pain, understandably ruling out cardiac symptoms. The fever, confusion and weakness, history of pneumonia and dementia did not seem to feature in the triage.

I was expecting a call back from the clinical team, though it was 18 hours until they phoned to tell me the case was closed because I did not answer the phone. I do not answer the phone to numbers I don’t know, the number was simply Tyneside, not 111.

I am pursuing a complaint through Yorkshire Ambulance service who manages the quality assurance process for out of hours and community services.

Vulnerable people need to be prioritised , I am a retired nurse and I knew to give my husband fluids and paracetamol to mitigate what I was pretty sure was a viral infection.

If I hadn’t had my background, and my husband called 111, would he have received the care he needed?

There has to be a safer way.