Ambulance watch: a day in the life of three emergency call centres
NHS ambulance call handler, Jess
What happens after you dial 999 and ask for the ambulance service?
Do you get sent an ambulance to take you directly to hospital with the blue lights flashing, or are you asked to hang up and contact your GP instead?
Meet the individuals who have to make these decisions.
On Tuesday we are following the twitter streams of three emergency call centres - North West, West Midlands and East of England ambulance services - to find out.
Some of the calls taken today so far have are code red - meaning the patient is seriously ill and needs urgent attention. These should get an ambulance within eight minutes.
Others are amber or green - less urgent with a target response time of 19 minutes or an hour, respectively.
But some calls are inappropriate.
North West Ambulance Trust @NWAmbulance tweets: "just advised a patient with toothache to contact NHS 111 for further advice".
NHS 111 is the number to call when you need medical help fast - but it's not an emergency.
The next call North West Ambulance Trust picks up is from a man who has dialled 999 because he's drunk.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has kept a tally of where the calls it's received so far today have ended up.
Out of 1,490 emergency calls, just over half ended up being transported by ambulance to A&E.
Around 40% were visited by a paramedic but advised to remain at home, and 4% were given advice solely over the phone.
To follow the action live, follow #team999.
We'll bring you updates throughout the day on our Facebook page BBC News #nhswinter.
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