What we do when you contact us

When you contact us, our practitioners assess how urgent your needs are.

Urgent needs

If your need is clinically urgent, we will contact you and assess your needs on the same day, by a telephone or face-to-face appointment. If you contact us in the afternoon, we may contact you on the following day, but only if we decide that it is appropriate to wait.

Non-urgent needs

If we decide that your need is not urgent, but requires a telephone or face-to-face appointment, we will schedule this within two weeks. Where appropriate, we will signpost you to community pharmacy and / or other local services.

If you cannot contact us, or when your GP practice is closed

• Life-threatening emergency or serious injury: call 999 or go to your nearest Emergency Department (A&E)
• Other injury or urgent need for treatment: go to your nearest Urgent Treatment Centre
• If you are unwell and need medical help: visit NHS 111 online or call 111
• For expert advice and medicines: visit your local pharmacy
• Mental health emergency: visit NHS 111 online

What NHS 111 cannot do

• Issue fit notes. You need to contact your GP for these
• Make or cancel appointments for you in other parts of the NHS

Other ways to contact NHS 111

• If you need help in other languages, call 111 and ask for an interpreter or
• For BSL use signvideo.co.uk/nhs111