In an emergency

Non-urgent advice: Key numbers

Dial 999 if you think that your life, or that of another person, is at immediate risk.

Dial 111 if you need medical help fast for a physical health problem, but it’s not an emergency.

Call 111 for the 24/7 Mental Health Helpline if you need urgent mental health support. This service is available to people of all ages in Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire.

In Swindon, Wiltshire and BaNES, call the numbers below.

Bath and North East Somerset

  • 9am – 5pm on a weekday: 01865 903 889
  • 5pm – 9am on a weekday or on weekends: 01865 901 000
  • Other useful sources of support in your area: Off The Record

Wiltshire

  • 9am – 5pm on a weekday: 01865 903 330
  • 5pm – 9am on a weekday or on weekends: 01865 901 000
  • Other useful sources of support in your area: On Your Mind

Swindon

  • 9am – 5pm on a weekday: 01793 463 177
  • 5pm – 9am on a weekday or on weekends: 01865 901 000
  • Other useful sources of support in your area: Swindon local offer

Non-urgent advice: Contact your GP

They will help you identify the care that is right for you or your friend/relative. This is to reduce pressure on General Practitioner (GP) services.

Your GP is your family doctor: the doctor you would normally go to see if you are ill or concerned about your health.

Non-urgent advice: Out of hours

If your surgery is closed, and you or a relative are experiencing physical health problems, dial 111. The out-of-hours service provides urgent medical care from 6.30pm to 8.00am on weekdays and around the clock at weekends and bank holidays.

Non-urgent advice: Save Haven

If you experience mental health crisis at the evening or weekend, you can get support with your local Safe Haven. Safe Haven is an out-of-hours, non-clinical space offering crisis support, signposting, safety planning and listening support over the weekend.

Oxfordshire Safe Haven:

Is open 7 nights a week from 6pm until 10pm. You must call the referral line first which is open from 5pm on the day of the service. Last entry is at 9pm. Referral line: 01865 903 037 or 07710 092849.

Aylesbury Safe Haven:

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday from 6.00pm until 12 midnight. You must call the referral line first which is open from 6pm on the day of the service. Last entry is at 11pm. Referral line: 01296 453017.

Wycombe Safe Haven:

Open 7 nights a week from from 6.00pm until 12 midnight. You must call the referral line first which is open from 6pm on the day of the service. Last entry is at 11pm. Referral line: 01494 218098.

Mental health services for children and young people

Dial 999 if you think the life of a child or young person is at immediate risk.

Dial 111 if you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency.

Oxfordshire

Where a child poses an immediate danger to themselves or others, calls are dealt with within 24 hours of receipt.

During working hours (Monday-Friday, 9am to 5pm) call straight away:

  • North Oxfordshire: 01295 819090
  • Central Oxfordshire:  01865 902720
  • South Oxfordshire: 01235 205425

Out of hours, young people or parents/carers can call 111; professionals can call us on 01865 901 000 and ask for CAMHS crisis on call.

Buckinghamshire

Where a child poses an immediate danger to themselves or others, these are dealt with within 24 hours of receipt.

During working hours (Monday-Friday, 9am to 5pm) call straight away:

  • North Buckinghamshire: 01865 90 1951
  • South Buckinghamshire: 01865 901 868

Out of hours, young people or parents/carers can call 111; professionals can call us on 01865 902 000 and ask for CAMHS crisis on call.

Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset

Please refer to our dedicated site to see the referral process in Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North east Somerset.

Mental health services for adults aged 18 - 65

For patients not known to our services

Contact your General Practitioner (GP) if you are not known to mental health services

If you, a friend or relative are experiencing mental health problems, need emergency treatment and are not known to mental health services, you should contact your General Practitioner (GP) in the first instance.

Your GP is your family doctor: the doctor you would normally go to see if you are ill or concerned about your health. He or she can usually deal with a mental health problem more quickly and fully than an Accident and Emergency (A & E) department.

Find a GP in your area on nhs.uk

If you are being seen by our services

If you are currently in contact with mental health services in Oxfordshire, please refer to your Care Plan for information about what you should do if you are feeling more unwell or unsafe. Your Care Plan will contain helpful instructions about how to help yourself in a crisis and who to contact for further assistance.

Your local Adult Mental Health Team can be contacted on the below details:
Oxford City and North East Oxon – 01865 902200 (operating Monday-Friday 9am-5pm)
North West Oxon -01865 902563 (operating 7am-9pm 7 days a week)
South Oxon – 01865 904191 (operating 7am-9pm 7 days a week)

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis after 9 pm, which cannot wait for contact with your usual care team, you can call the night team at the Warneford Hospital on 01865 901000.

If you have been discharged from mental health services in the past 12 months and have concerns that your mental health is getting worse, you can contact the team you were discharged from for advice and self-referral. If you need help and advice overnight you can contact the night team, as above.

If you never been under the care of one of our teams, or have not been for the past year, please make use of the information on these web-pages regarding self-help and local support services or contact your GP or 111.

What is a crisis?

If you feel unsafe, distressed or worried about your mental health you may experience some of the following examples:

  • Mood changes (different to how you are usually)
  • Withdrawing from people (close family, friends or work colleagues)
  • Not taking care of yourself like you would usually
  • Increased thoughts about life not being worth living
  • Excessive worry
  • Feeling out of control
  • Feeling unable to cope
  • Changes in the way you think
  • Unusual ideas
  • Hearing voices or seeing things that others cannot
  • Thinking about harming yourself or someone else

Mental ill health is common, with 1 in 4 people in the UK experiencing a problem each year. Most conditions are managed well through medication and/or psychological services.

Helplines, information and advice

  • Oxfordshire Mind Information Line – (01865) 247788 open 9.30 am to 4.30 pm Mon – Thurs, Fri 9.30 am to 4.00 pm
  • NHS 111 – dial 111 – open 24 hours
  • Samaritans – Freephone 116 123 – open 24 hours
  • Saneline – 0300 304 7000 – 4.30 pm to 10.30 pm daily
  • Rethink – 0300 5000 927 – 9.30 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday
  • FRANK – 0800 77 6600 – open 24 hours
  • No Panic – 0300 7729844 – 10 am to 10 pm

Stay Alive Suicide Prevention Mobile Phone App:

Websites:

Further information

We and our partners are committing to supporting efforts to reduce pressures on the A&E departments at the John Radcliffe, Horton and Stoke Mandeville hospitals.

If you are concerned about your or someone else’s mental health please, consider using an alternative to attending A&E where possible. People who have harmed themselves and require emergency medical treatment for this should continue to use minor injuries units, A&E and the ambulance service.

We have mental health clinicians working with the police, ambulance, 111 and A&E services, to make sure that people experiencing mental health problems who are in contact with the emergency services can access mental health support from the right service at the right time.

Together with our partners, we are currently developing additional services to meet the needs of people experiencing a crisis with their mental health. Find out more about planned developments in the NHS England Five Year Forward View.

OMHP logoOrganisations in the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership (OMHP) which provides services for people with severe and/or enduring mental health issues include:

Talking Space and Oxford Health logos
The TalkingSpace Plus Partnership works actively with people struggling with depression and anxiety and can be contacted on (01865) 901222 or email: talkingspaceplus@nhs.net

Organisations in the Partnership include:

Mental health services for adults aged 65 and over

Non-urgent advice: Important

If you are concerned about someone’s mental health, and believe that they are at immediate risk of harming themselves or others then please contact 999 or 111 if it’s not a 999 emergency.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provide a 24/7 service to older people with mental health problems across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Older people’s community mental health teams (CMHTs) provide advice, emergency assessment and treatment from 9am to 8pm weekdays and 9am to 5pm weekends through the CMHT duty service.

The duty service provides emergency support to patients who are known to the service. It also supports new referrals. After 8pm, this becomes a centralised function. It operates from the Warneford Hospital in Oxfordshire. It also operates from the Whiteleaf Centre in Buckinghamshire. It provides overnight cover. It has the capacity to see people at home or elsewhere in the community, such as an out-of-hours GP surgery.

For patients known to our services

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis and are known to mental health services then you should have a crisis plan which outlines what you should do and who you should contact in an emergency.

This might be your CMHT, GP or other voluntary organisation. If you do not have a crisis plan then please contact your local CMHT (contact details below) or GP.

  • North Oxfordshire CMHT: 01865 902726
  • South Oxfordshire CMHT: 01235 205420
  • Central Oxfordshire CMHT: 01865 455800
  • North Buckinghamshire CMHT: 01865 901468
  • South Buckinghamshire CMHT:
  • High Wycombe office: 01865 901309
  • Amersham office: 01856 901400

For patients not known to our services

If you are not known to one of our services then please contact your GP (if this is out-of-hours, the main surgery number will have an answerphone message on which will detail how to contact the out-of-hours GP service). They will be able to refer you to our services if they believe that you need specialist mental health intervention and support.

If you have presented to the emergency department at either the John Radcliffe or Horton Hospitals in Oxfordshire or Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, there is a psychiatric service at each location, which you can be referred to if there are concerns about your mental wellbeing.

The team will provide a specialist assessment of your current mental health and look at what support you might need. This might be from the trust, your GP or another organisation who we think might be best placed to provide this for you.

Community health services (non-mental health)

Accident and Emergency

For life threatening conditions, call 999 – Accident & Emergency (A&E).

Emergency services are very busy. You should only attend Emergency Departments (A&E) if you are very badly hurt or if you become very seriously ill (life-threatening). This would include:

  • Life threatening choking
  • Chest pain
  • Blacking out
  • Severe blood loss
  • Severe breathing difficulty.

You will find Emergency Departments at:

Dial 111 for urgent advice on what to do or who to see.

This number is free to call from all landlines and mobiles.

Minor Injury Units and First Aid Units

Minor Injuries Units are for injuries, such as:

  • Deep cuts
  • Eye injuries
  • Broken bones
  • Severe sprains
  • Minor head injury
  • Minor burns and scalds

Many people go to Accident and Emergency when they could be treated just as well and probably quicker at a Minor Injuries Unit.

In Accident and Emergency staff must give priority to serious and life-threatening conditions, so if you go there with a minor injury you may have to wait longer to be seen. It is better to go to a Minor Injuries Unit if there is one locally.  They are run by a team of highly qualified nurse practitioners with a lot of experience and expertise in the treatment of minor injuries.

Minor Injuries Units can treat a wide variety of problems including:

  • Cuts and grazes
  • Sprains and strains
  • Broken bones (fractures)
  • Bites and stings
  • Minor eye infections
  • Scratches
  • Something stuck in your eye

Some hospitals provide a First Aid Unit instead of a Minor Injuries Unit.

First Aid Units provide a similar service to that provided by a Minor Injuries Unit except that they do not have the support of an x-ray service. If you think that your injury may require an x-ray then you should telephone 111 or the First Aid Unit for advice prior to attending.

For more details on these services, please see our Minor Injuries Unit/First Aid Units page.

Out-of-hours doctors

Telephone: 111

The out-of-hours service provides urgent medical care from 6.30pm to 8.00am on weekdays and around the clock at weekends and bank holidays. It can help you if, for example, you have a fever or sickness but do not need to go to a hospital Emergency Department.

It may be likely that over public holiday periods you experience a long wait for 111 and GP Out of Hours services.

Please consider what self-care is possible in the first instance. If you think that your condition can wait, please wait for your own GP surgery to re-open.

Please make use of pharmacy advice where this is possible.

Please use 111 to initiate your care or if your symptoms worsen whilst waiting.

Remember to call first before going to a minor injury unit or other centre.

Patients do not need to register for urgent care services.

Urgent dental services when your dentist is closed

For emergency advice or treatment please call: 111

Between 6.30pm to 9.30pm Monday to Thursday, 9.00am to 6.00pm at weekends, 9.00am to 5.00pm and 6.00pm to 9.00pm on bank holiday weekends and bank holidays.

This service is available to all Oxfordshire residents (including temporary residents and visitors). Callers will be phoned back for triage and provided with either advice or offered appointments for emergency treatment. This service is for people with urgent or emergency needs only and therefore does not provide routine care or repeat appointments.

You can also also call 111 for details of NHS dental practices offering emergency appointments.

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Page last reviewed: 5 February, 2024