Blondell
NHS 111
Contacted NHS 111 today. Spoke to an operator and explained my condition with my knee. She gave me an appointment at a hospital 3 miles away from my home, where there was one closer to me 1.4 miles, so I questioned and queried why I couldn't go to the nearer hospital. Her response was, it did not come up on her screen. Thereafter, she made the appointment for me at the hospital 3 miles away at 9pm tonight. I asked why are the appointment was so late in the night? if the hospital is running late on appointments I could be there until 11pm and I rely on london transport. The only other option was for her to get an out of hours doctor to call me back to then fix me an appointment for the same hospital, probably, same time, same place. I decided to cancel, I explained I will go to the hospital that is closer to me and did not require that appointment. I explained I was not happy with what she had to offer. I then left home and went to the nearest hospital and was in there for less than 30 minutes. Got seen by a doctor and left out to go home. The moral is, sometimes it's best to follow your gut instincts, rather than these people who are supposedly doing things in your best interest. In future, I will just go and attend the nearest hospital emergency dept and won't be ringing NHS111 in the near future.