Out of hours emergencies are covered by LCW, a service commissioned by NHS Islington and also NHS 111.
LCW/NHS 111 are there to deal with medically urgent problems that are not life-threatening and cannot wait until the surgery re-opens. If you call when the surgery is closed you can be put straight through by following the advice on our out of hours message.
If you are unable to contact NHS 111 straight away and the patient has a life-threatening condition (e.g. severe chest pain, severe bleeding, sudden collapse) call 999 and ask for an ambulance.
Calls to NHS 111 are answered by a telephone operator. To be able to process your call the operator will need to know certain details including the name of your usual GP, your name, address, date of birth and telephone number. They will also ask for the reason for the call. No call can be passed to a clinician without all of this information.
Calls will be passed to one of the clinicians who will call you back as soon as they are free. This will normally be within an hour of your call. Please note that 111 staff do not have access to your medical records. For this reason they will need to ask a number of questions about your situation and may also ask for information about past medical problems. Please be prepared to answer their questions and give additional information as required.
Please note 111 is not there to provide a second opinion or to offer a consultation out of normal surgery hours because it might be more convenient. It is also not possible to make appointments with your practice or to get test results by calling 111. Callers without urgent medical problems will delay their ability to respond quickly to those people who have a genuine need for medical care outside of surgery hours.
The details of your consultation will be passed to your own GP and will be available by the next working day.
