Never called them....anything thye tell you over the phone will be on the website and you'd probably be better off talking to your local pharmacist.

Yes,as last new year's eve  I had to go to the emergency out of hours doctor,I was diagnosed with severe bronchitis,after relating my symptoms to NHS 24 (Scotland) they said I should see a doc ASAP.,Got heavy duty anti-biotics,,,I had the cough for about six weeks though even though the severe infection was taken care of.

"be better off talking to your local pharmacist."


yeah,when they are open.

Rang them once regarding an infected tooth abscess.  Waited 5 hours for a nurse to ring me back only to be told to contact my local emergency dentist.

The whole thing seems to be a huge waste of money.

"The whole thing seems to be a huge waste of money."


Totally.

Isn't it getting done away with....?


Might just as well ring your local out of hours place anyway.

I rang once years aGO ..........MY GRANDSON WAS SIX MONTHS OLD and i was looking after him overnight - he had an allergic reaction to antibiotics ...........I kind of knew what the advice would be (don't give him anymore - keep him cool with Calpol and take him back to the docs in the morning) - I just wanted some reassurance - it was good for that.

However if it was a total emergency - don't think I'd bother!

NHS 24 (Scotland) were very good when I contacted them last year, for my hubby who was feeling really unwell.
NHS 24 took his details, symptoms etc and said they'd get a doctor to telephone us, which they did within 10 minutes. After a discussion with the doctor, we were told to take him up to the hospital. Lucky we did too, as he had a serious kidney infection.

Bunch of bellends. You have to speak to 2 nurses in 2 separate phone calls who say "the doctor will call you back, meanwhile if you find you can't breathe or you feel faint or disorientated call us back". Yeah right, I'm gonna sit there and listen to Edelweiss on hold while I'm slowly carkin it. My GP out of hours service goes through to them, last weekend it took nearly 3 hours to speak to someone who actually knew what they were talking about. (And I can hum bloody Edelweiss backwards I heard it so many times)

NHS 24 were really good when i was on holiday in Scotland, they called me back within 5 mins and got me booked into the local emergency room, which the told me to go to straight away! (this was for a very minor emergency btw )

NHS direct here is a total and utter waste of money, they dont say anything they just advise you to go and see your doctor. crap pile of poop.

I wasted loads of time on the phone to NHS direct, They have to go by guidelines and you get better information from the internet when searching yourself i feel.

NHS 24 Scotland are fantastic,I had to call them Sun Jan 2nd and they provided a service second to none .
The sh*t picture is well....that

I think in Scotland it's a better service...common sense really. If someone is in severe distress you phone an ambulance surely.,

Yes I think so too. It's good for reassurance but maybe an expensive service if that's just what it's for.

I have used  the online service...symptoms etc,but again common sense should kick in when you know all you have is the sniffles etc and if there are severe symptoms in children etc,then you act quickly yourself.

Well obviously Scotland's population = around 6 million to the rest of the UK's 48 million(I think) will play a part.

Right I did go and Google the UK population at Dec 2009 it was 61,792,000 so higher than I thought.

Scotland less than I thought  5,168,500

Yes, I've found them helpful although their advice does seem to err on the side of 'go to your GP or A&E'.

Covering themselves probably Carnellian so they can't be accused of saying go to bed and take a couple of paracetamol.

Only used it about three times, but always helpful and useful.