The NHS 111 service is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by a team of fully trained advisers. They will ask questions to assess your symptoms and, depending on the situation, will then:

• give you self-care advice
• connect you to a nurse, emergency dentist or GP
• book you a face-to-face appointment
• book you an arrival time at A&E if you need to be seen there.
• send an ambulance directly, if necessary
• direct you to the local service that can best help you with your concern

Calls to 111 are recorded. All calls and the records created are maintained securely, and will only be shared with others directly involved with your care.

NHS 111 offers a video relay service that allows you to make a video call to a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

The BSL interpreter will call an NHS 111 adviser on your behalf, and you will then be able to have a real-time conversation with the NHS 111 adviser via the interpreter.

You’ll need a webcam, a modern computer and a good broadband connection to use this service. Visit NHS 111 BSL interpreter service for more details and an online user guide.

Typetalk or textphone

If you have difficulties communicating or hearing, you can use the NHS 111 service through a textphone by calling 18001 111.

Calls are connected to the TextDirect system and the textphone will display messages to tell you what’s happening.

A typetalk relay assistant will automatically join the call. They’ll talk back what you’ve typed to the NHS 111 adviser and, in return, type back the adviser’s conversation so you can read it on your textphone’s display or computer.

There’s also a confidential interpreter service, which is available in many languages. Simply mention the language you wish to use when the NHS 111 operator answers your call.