We know it can be scary to be away and be hurt or unwell and we will always listen if you call and you don’t know what to do. But at Runaway Helpline we can’t give medical advice.

If you are not feeling well but it is not a life-threatening situation, you can call NHS 111 for free medical advice. 111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It’s fast, easy and free. When you call 111 you will talk to a highly trained adviser. They will ask you a series of questions to assess your symptoms and immediately direct you to the best medical care for you.

NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.

If it is a medical emergency, you should call 999 immediately. It’s important to remember that if you call Runaway Helpline, your call can’t be traced. This means that in an emergency situation, if you have to hang up suddenly because you are too ill to speak, the connection is broken because you have fainted or the signal has gone, Runaway Helpline will not be able to get help to you unless you have told us where you are.

This is why, in an emergency situation, and if it is at all possible for you, you should always call 999 directly yourself. Even if the connection is broken, they can still get help to you.

If you call Runaway Helpline needing emergency medical attention and you ask us to call the Emergency Services for you, we can do that and stay on the line with you until they arrive, if you have told us exactly where you are.

We might ask for your name in these circumstances and we will need to know what kind of medical emergency it is. This is because these are the questions the emergency services will ask us when we ask them to send help to you.