111.nhs.uk – Help Us Help You

Posted on:

NHS 111 online is a digital triage service, available in England only, for people aged 5 and over.

If you have an urgent health problem and are unsure what to do about it, we can tell you where to get the right help.

Call 111 if you need to get help for a child under 5.

What a triage service does

‘Triage’ means answering a series of questions to check how ill you might be and what help you need.

Triage services do not give you a diagnosis.

The more questions you are asked the less serious it’s likely to be.

We use the same triage system (‘algorithm’) as the 111 phone service, called NHS Pathways.

Knowing who and where you are

We ask for your location at the start so we can find services close to you that can help.

You don’t need to tell us who you are to use 111 online, but if we refer you to another service we will need some personal details from you.

Our privacy statement describes how we use your personal information.

Choosing the right symptom

111 online has about 120 topics to choose from, covering most common symptoms.

We ask questions about symptoms. We cannot give advice about conditions you already know you have.

The system can only triage one symptom at a time. If you have multiple symptoms, it is important to pick the one that is bothering you most.

Finding out what to do next

Based on your answers to triage questions, we tell you what to do next. We rely on the NHS Directory of Services to show you the right place to get care in your area.