Our phone lines are busiest when we open at 8:30am. We do try to clear this queue as quick as we can. To try and alleviate the pressure and wait times at this busiest period we are changing the way we triage our patients by introducing forms for selected medical conditions or admin queries.
This means you can click on one of the options below to fill in a form which will be processed by our team.
If you need medical help right now, please call 111 or go to NHS 111 online . In an emergency call 999.
For general health and self help advice please use the NHS website .
Check it’s not an emergency
You should not submit this form if the patient requires immediate treatment.
Call 999 if you have any of the following symptoms:
- Signs of a heart attack: chest pain, pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across the chest
- Signs of a stroke: face dropping on one side, cannot hold both arms up, difficulty speaking
- Sudden confusion (delirium): cannot be sure of own name or age
- Suicide attempt: by taking something or self-harming
- Severe difficulty breathing: not being able to get words out, choking or gasping
- Choking: on liquids or solids right now
- Heavy bleeding: spraying, pouring or enough to make a puddle
- Severe injuries: after a serious accident or assault
- Seizure (fit): shaking or jerking because of a fit, or unconscious (cannot be woken up)
- Sudden, rapid swelling: of the lips, mouth, throat or tongue
- Labour or childbirth: waters breaking, more frequent intense cramps (contractions), baby coming, or just born
British Sign Language (BSL) speakers can make an emergency call using the 999 BSL video call service .
Deaf people can use 18000 to contact 999 using text relay.
Please note some of these options will not work until we go live on Tuesday 14th January at 8am