I spent 24 hours in A&E with suspected appendicitis, once. I was conscious the whole time but NWIH would I have made any sense on the phone, had I got one brought to me. It's not easier, and nurses are used to making such calls, moreover, where injured and sick people are not and tend not to be the most coherent and useful callers! (I managed to tell my Dad I was there, in the end, but not where to find me, or what I had been admitted for. Not the sanest call I ever made in my life.)