Abstract

A high volume of calls are made to ambulance services in England. Concerns about why and how the public make the calls are raised. Inappropriate calls can be due to public misunderstanding of when it is appropriate to call 999. NHS 111 is a free telephone service providing urgent health care advice. However, deciding which service to call is not easy and such a decision can be particularly difficult for old people as symptom presentation across complex comorbidities can vary. Our aim was to explore the understanding and experiences of emergency (999) and urgent services (NHS 111) among older people aged 65 and over.
Methodology
To look into the user experiences and perceptions of the services, a phenomenological approach was adopted. Four semi-structured and three focus groups interviews were conducted, with a purposive sample of those aged 65 and over, recruited through Age UK. The participants were of different ages (all 65+), gender, geographical location and users of both services. The study was communicated with a topic guide explored participants’ understanding and experience of the services. Thematic analysis was undertaken to reveal the use of emergency (999) or urgent (NHS 111) care.
Results
Participants understood the purpose of the 999 emergency ambulance services, and there were loyal 999 users. For NHS 111, the users often tended to employ subjective criteria in defining urgent clinical conditions. While they understood the service purpose for advice on common clinical conditions such as flu, a few of them called NHS 111 for emergency. They felt that there were repetitions of reporting symptoms to two members of staff in one call.
Implications
Future research on the use of 999 and NHS 111 services by other age groups will develop a deeper understanding of the management of both services.