I've been reading for about 2 years now and decided it really was time to sign up so I could comment, so hello. I agree with the previous poster who said the triage system needs to be overhauled, along with changes to NHS Direct and the local systems. For example, I have phoned my doctor plenty of times, but I was not aware until earlier this year of the Out of Hours GP service run by my local hospital. I had vaguely heard the phrase before, but phoning my doctors' surgery out of hours gives you a recorded message telling you to phone 999 if it is an emergency, with no mention of the out of hours GP clinic, which is situated next to A&E under a sign reading "fracture clinic". I wouldn't have had any idea of its existence if an A&E receptionist hadn't one day directed me to it, but why did nobody redirect us a year or two previously when my partner arrived complaining of a cracked rib from a motorcycle accident which had happened some days previously? It obviously wasn't an emergency but an unsympathetic employer meant he couldn't see a doctor during normal hours and being unaware of the out of hours clinic he assumed A&E was the appropriate choice. And NHS Direct don't seem particularly helpful, they seem to suggest going to A&E every time I phone them... I suppose they would be useful to weed out the people with man flu though!