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 NHS Direct contact

Telephone Number: 0845 4647

Using NHS Direct and Contacting Medical Services

What to expect

Remember the staff you speak to at NHS direct do NOT know you or your regular treatment, so if you want to get sensible advice from them you need to help them with accurate information. This information is also important if you call out an on-call doctor or if you present to an emergency department.

It is often sensible to hold this information readily to hand as a list at home or on an ‘emergency card’ in your purse/wallet

Information List

• What type of diabetes do you have? How long have you had it?

• Do you have any other medical problems or complications of your diabetes?

• What treatment do you take usually for your diabetes? (tablet names, doses and times; insulin names, doses and times)

• How well does your usual treatment work? (knowing the result of your most recent HbA1c test is VERY helpful, failing that what sugar levels do you generally see on your testing)

• What actions have you undertaken to try and treat yourself in the last 24 hours?

• What sugar levels have you been seeing in the last 24 hours?

• What are the main problems now?