![\"NHS](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ill-woman.jpg\" "\\"(Representative")
She dialled 111 as her symptoms worsened. But the NHS 111 operator allegedly told her to take paracetamol. Hours later, the woman was rushed to hospital, where she was put on life support.<\/p>\n She dialled 111 as her symptoms worsened. But the NHS 111 operator allegedly told her to take paracetamol. Hours later, the woman was rushed to hospital, where she was put on life support.<\/p>\n
A bad cold that worsened<\/p>\n
Nicky Hillier, 50, an HR professional from Swindon, Wiltshire, first felt unwell in early March 2026. She thought it was nothing but a bad cold, so she cancelled her overnight plans. The next day, she called in sick at work. But five days later, she could barely get out of bed. Soaking night sweats forced her to change her pyjamas every two hours. Her head was pounding. She was vomiting. She thought it was Covid. Unable to secure a GP appointment, she turned to NHS 111 on 18 March.<\/p>\n
\u2018Take paracetamol\u2019, they said<\/p>\n
Nicky was allegedly told by the 111 operator to take paracetamol to relieve her symptoms. Just a matter of hours later, she was found unconscious and \u2018barely breathing\u2019 by her neighbour and ex-husband.Nicky\u2019s sister, Amanda Hall, described in devastating detail what happened when Nicky reached out for help. \u201cShe had rung 111 and said, \u2018I can\u2019t get a doctor\u2019s appointment, I\u2019m feeling really poorly, I\u2019ve had a temperature for five days and I\u2019m sweating so much that I\u2019m having to change my pyjamas every couple of hours\u2019. [She also said] \u2018I can\u2019t get out of bed, I\u2019ve got a bad headache and I\u2019ve been sick and I\u2019ve got a cough\u2019. They basically told her to go and get some paracetamol, and she said, \u2018I can\u2019t even get out of bed\u2019, and that is the last anybody had heard from her overnight. Her neighbour was driving past at around 7 am and noticed that my sister\u2019s curtains were drawn, and that isn\u2019t like her; she\u2019s up early with the dog,\u201d Hall told the Daily Mirror.\u201cIn the meantime, my sister\u2019s boss thought, \u2018I haven\u2019t heard from Nicky; she usually checks in even when she\u2019s not well\u2019, so went to HR and asked for her next-of-kin contact, which was her ex-husband. The ex got over the gate at the back of the house, got into the house and found her collapsed in a very, very poor state,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
The diagnosis<\/p>\n
Nicky was rushed to hospital, and doctors confirmed that she had bacterial meningitis. \u201cWe were told to prepare ourselves, that she was gravely, gravely ill and if she made the night, it would be a miracle,\u201d Amanda Hall said. The woman was perfectly well until a week before she cancelled her Friday night plans because she felt unwell, according to her sister. Doctors believe she had a severe case of bacterial meningitis. They confirmed that the bacteria in Nicky\u2019s system was Streptococcus pneumoniae, which had travelled from her spinal cord to her brain, triggering meningitis.She was brought out of a two-day coma on 21 March; however, she is now deaf and also has Bell\u2019s palsy, a neurological disorder causing sudden, temporary weakness or paralysis of the muscles on one side of the face. \u201cShe said to her nurse within a day or two that she couldn\u2019t hear and something was wrong with her ears. She could speak a few words, not a coherent sentence, but enough to know that she was there. Her mobility isn\u2019t particularly good at the moment; she\u2019s having to use a frame. She can\u2019t walk unaided,\u201d Amanda Hall said.<\/p>\n
Calls for accountability<\/p>\n
Amanda Hall also criticised the response from NHS 111. \u201cIt\u2019s just been awful for everybody; it\u2019s just been absolutely shocking. If you have been as ill as my sister was for that many days and you\u2019ve reached out to 111 and they tell you to go and get some paracetamol, I would absolutely throw that advice in the bin. Like with my sister, it changed so quickly from her being able to communicate. She should have been seen,\u201d she said.A spokesperson for Practice Plus Group stated, \u201cWe are sorry to hear of this patient\u2019s illness and encourage her family to raise their concerns with us directly, so that we can review the NHS 111 call in line with our strict quality governance procedures.\u201dMeanwhile, Nicky\u2019s friends and family have set up a GoFundMe to support her during her recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She dialled 111 as her symptoms worsened. But the NHS 111 operator allegedly told her to take paracetamol.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":994392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[275984,105,4348,275985,154777,275986,232682,16,15],"class_list":["post-994391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-bacterial-meningitis","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-medical-misdiagnosis","tag-nhs-111","tag-paracetamol-advice","tag-patient-advocacy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116663664527254751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=994391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/994392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=994391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=994391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=994391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}