Calling 111 in Australia does not connect you to emergency services; it's a New Zealand number, but in Australia, you should dial Triple Zero (000) for Police, Fire, or Ambulance emergencies, or 112 for mobile calls, which redirects to 000. If you call 111 from a mobile in Australia, it might try to connect to 000 (like other non-Australian emergency numbers), but 000 is the correct and primary number for emergencies in Australia, connecting you to an operator who will ask if you need police, fire, or ambulance and then patch you through.
If you call 111 by mistake, do not hang up the phone: Stay on the line until you can tell the call-taker that you called by accident and there is no emergency. This saves the call-taker from having to call you back and confirm there is no emergency, or possibly sending police to check your address for an emergency.
The reason nobody adopted 111 was that in the old days, if phone lines accidentally contacted each other you could send a pulse down the line, and three pulses in a row would be interpreted by the system as an emergency call. Hence, 112. 112 obviously took even less time to dial than 911, and so was arguably superior.
Australia's primary emergency call service number is Triple Zero (000), which can be dialled from any fixed or mobile phone, pay phones and certain Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. There are also two secondary emergency call service numbers—112 and 106. 112 is available from most mobile phones.
What to do if you call Triple Zero (000) accidentally. If the call has been made but you don't need emergency services, don't hang up. Wait until a responder answers, then explain that you don't need help.
If you call 000 (Triple Zero) and you're unsure of your location (or there's no street address available), the operator may ask you to share your location using What3Words from the Emergency+ app. By reading out the three words on your screen, they can quickly plot your location on a map.
Normally, these calls will still ring into the 911 Center. If you hang up, the dispatcher will make an attempt to return your call and verify whether or not you have an emergency. The dispatcher will also dispatch an officer to your location to check your welfare.
When you call Ryan's Rule in Queensland, Australia, it triggers a formal process for patients or families to escalate concerns about a worsening or non-improving medical condition in a public hospital, leading to a prompt clinical review by a senior clinician independent of the original care team to ensure the patient gets needed attention, often resulting in new investigations or treatment adjustments. It's a three-step escalation: first, speak with a nurse or doctor; if unsatisfied, speak to the nurse-in-charge; and if still concerned, call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) to activate the rule and get a senior clinician involved.
If you're worried about an urgent medical concern, call 111 and speak to a fully trained adviser. For less urgent health needs, contact your GP or local pharmacist. You should use the NHS 111 service if you urgently need medical help or advice but it's not a non-life-threatening situation.
Other ways to get help with your mental health
You can talk about anything that's troubling you, no matter how difficult: Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans, or email: [email protected] for a reply within 24 hours. Text "SHOUT" to 85258 to contact the Shout Crisis Text Line, or text "YM" if you're under 19.
If you miss the call
A nurse will try and call you up to 3 times. If they cannot contact you they will leave a message, but you will not be able to call them back. You will have to use 111 online or call 111 again and start from the beginning.
Unfortunately, the exact location of the caller is known only when calling 112 from a landline, as it is registered at a specific address. When calling from a mobile phone, caller location is one of the main problems which all emergency call centres and emergency services face not only in Europe but also worldwide.
There's a good reason “000” was chosen as Australia's emergency number. It was, at least in part, because zero was closest to the finger stall on rotary-dial phones, making it easy to dial in the dark or in smoke. That was more than 50 years ago, in 1961. Before then, Australia had no national emergency number.
NHS 111 helps get people the right physical and mental health advice and treatment when they urgently need it. A specialist health advisor will collect some information from you about your symptoms. They will then direct you to the service that can best help you.
There are certain instances where 911 call centers can contact Verizon and AT&T, give them your phone number, and attempt to locate your phone. However even if they can locate it, the address likely won't be 100 percent accurate, and there will still be a search radius. It also isn't possible to track every phone.
Use 105 to report things like:
Someone broke into your car. Someone has damaged your property. You've lost your wallet or phone. Driving behaviour or an incident that you have seen.
Call 111 if: You need medical help fast but it's not a 999 emergency. You think you need to go to A&E or need another NHS urgent care service. You don't know who to call or you don't have a GP to call.
No, 111 isn't inherently a warning; in numerology and spirituality, it's usually a positive sign for new beginnings, manifestation, and alignment, suggesting your thoughts are becoming reality, so stay positive. While it can feel intense (like a "warning" to pay attention to your thoughts), its core message is opportunity, abundance, and a spiritual awakening, not danger.
Contact NHS 111 if:
you have difficulty breathing – you may be more short of breath than usual. you feel sick or are being sick. you're coughing up blood. you have pain or swelling in 1 of your legs.
Five common examples of medical negligence include misdiagnosis/delayed diagnosis, surgical errors (like operating on the wrong body part), medication mistakes (wrong drug or dosage), birth injuries, and anesthesia errors, all occurring when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, causing patient harm. Other examples involve failures in post-operative care, hospital-acquired infections, or not obtaining informed consent.
In Australian hospitals, a Code Grey signifies an immediate security response for actual or potential escalating behaviour, usually from an unarmed patient or visitor, posing a risk of violence or aggression to staff, patients, or others, requiring a trained team to de-escalate and manage the situation safely, distinct from Code Black (armed threat) or Code Blue (medical emergency). Victorian health services use Code Grey for managing occupational violence, with specific standards for consistent response, though other states might differ.
Many 9-1-1 hang up calls are crimes in progress. We consider every 9-1-1 hang up to be an emergency unless we are able to verify otherwise. We always call 9-1-1 hang up calls back. If we receive an answering machine, no answer, busy signal, or the person sounds suspicious, law enforcement is immediately dispatched.
If you call 999 and hang up, the first thing we will try to do is call you back. This will show up as a withheld number, but please answer. You won't be in trouble; we just want to check that you are okay. The ultimate advice is if you dial 999 by mistake, stay on the line so we can check you're okay.
If you accidentally press the SOS button and you have an active subscription: You will hear the message "Connecting to the emergency call center. To cancel, please press the button again."