111 saved my husband

Your readers have bemoaned the non-emergency NHS number 111, but I called it a couple of weeks ago and the response I had was brilliant, starting with the person who took all the details about my husband, who I could see was very poorly. The lady I spoke to reassured me that paramedics would be with me within an hour and they were. Two paramedics arrived and took charge of my husband with thorough tests.

I could see he was in good hands and after about 20 minutes they took him straight to hospital. I would not hesitate to call 111 again.

Elaine Chase, Fordingbridge, Hampshire I slipped coming down the stairs and broke my upper right arm. I called 111 but all they seemed interested in was my ethnicity, not that I was going into shock.

This service – if it can be called that – is a disgrace to the NHS. But once I was in hospital, the care was above fantastic. Alfred G.J. McDonald,

Millom, Cumbria In defence of the 111 number, I phoned it when my husband was not well. They sent an ambulance to take him to hospital, where he was found to have had a stroke.

Joyce Knight, Widnes, Cheshire