Doctors Surgeries told to stop using 0844 Numbers.

bigmuffins

I disagree with you on this Gingham - there is a significant amount of people who are on inclusive tariffs and have free landline calls but the GPs and other public services/bodies using O845 nos etc means that they have to pay to call these nos rather than getting them free in their inclusive allowances!

Also sometimes you have to use a mobile as you cannot stay at home just to make a phone call! It takes ages to get through to my docs and this is time that I can ill afford! (sorry no pun intended:p )
Not all illness means you have to stay home! I have to carry on with my day to day business and I should be able to phone from a mobile (within my inclusive mins) without being penalised!

This is not acceptable in my view! I think they should have normal landline phone nos. and I have long held this view - any campaign will get my vote and support!

Ypaymore

Gingham Ribbon.
This thread is about 5p a minute 24/7 revenue sharing 0844 Numbers with 6p connection from a BT Landline.and 7p from Virgin.Not 2p a minute peak 0845 numbers(Which may or may not have revenue sharing). Are you sure your doctor is not using 0844 instead of 0845 ?

A lot of poorer people are likely to be calling from Payg Mobiles.
Also these 0844 numbers cannot be reached from abroad,so it doesnt augur well if you become unwell whilst overseas.

GPs who have contracted to use these revenue-sharing numbers may well be in breach of their contracts because they are precluded from charging patients.

pigeonpie

what are they precluded from charging patients for? My GPs (who are hopeless but have wall to wall latest model Volvos stacked up outside) have an 0844 no that they brought in 2 years ago. Plus when I asked for a note for the local physio programme at the council's leisure centre, the GP told me that would cost £40 to write!
Gingham Ribbon - I'd not move home if I were you.....

Gingham_Ribbon

My GP uses 0845. I have an inclusive package that means I don't pay extra for local calls but I don't object to the few pence on my bill for calling the GP, and I have had occasion to call very frequently. And it is pennies. 2p per minute. I'm never on long enough to worry about that. They call me back if I need to speak to a GP or the asthma nurse.

As for the range and quality of services, yes it should be the norm. It isn't though is it? The doctors have gone above and beyond the call of duty for me and my family on more than one occasion. If some people think their salary is obscene, that's fine. I have no idea what they earn, nor do I care. They provide a top notch service in my area and I'm just glad I don't live where I used to any more, where they may have an 01 number, but the service is frankly appalling.

MrSmartprice

BritBrat wrote: »

I wrote to the minister on the issue asking for an alternative 01, 02 or 03 number, was basically told hard !!!!!! we don't have one.

This of course has to be a lie. Every such number is related to an 01/02 number. That's how the system works. If you ring the 01/02 number attached to the premium number they cannot tell when answering.

Just a thought on this one. Tell the doctor's surgery that you are going on holiday and ask for a number to ring while abroad in case you need it for medical purposes, as 08 numbers don't work from abroad.

MrsS once had to do this when she had her bag stolen, containing medication. She needed details of the tablets for replacement and fortunately our GP has not climbed onto this bandwagon.

stamford

MrSmartprice wrote: »

Just a thought on this one. Tell the doctor's surgery that you are going on holiday and ask for a number to ring while abroad in case you need it for medical purposes, as 08 numbers don't work from abroad.

.

I did this with Thames Valley Police and they added this to their website

To contact Thames Valley Police whilst abroad please call 0044 1865 841148

If anyone ever tries to give me an 0870 / 0845 etc number to call them back on I demand a geographic one

[Deleted User]

Very interesting article on the wider debate on all this in today’s Money Guardian at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/dec/01/consumeraffairs.moneysupplement

“Although the department has so far only approached the issue on the basis of giving "guidance," it could well be able to use the Act to prohibit them.”

Maybe that’s the angle we all, and hopefully Martin, should take. Get MP’s support to change the Act. I beleive it needs to be changed not just for the use of the numbers for GP’s surgeries, but also for other government lines that people for whom money is tight often have no choice other than to call and queue before if they are lucky, getting through to someone.

Ypaymore wrote: »

A lot of poorer people are likely to be calling from Payg Mobiles.
Also these 0844 numbers cannot be reached from abroad,so it doesnt augur well if you become unwell whilst overseas.

Quite! More and more people are being persuaded by the mobile providers’ huge marketing campaigns to switch to a mobile accounts with free calls to all non-08 landline numbers. Several people I know no longer have a landline at home, so this 40p per min charge to call from mobiles is probably going to be a growing problem. Also, those who aren’t allowed to make personal calls at work will have no choice other than to use their mobiles to book an appointment with their GP or contact government departments.

bunking_off

MrSmartprice wrote: »

This of course has to be a lie. Every such number is related to an 01/02 number. That's how the system works. If you ring the 01/02 number attached to the premium number they cannot tell when answering.

Erm, wrong.

The vast majority of 08 & 09 numbers translate to a delivery number, but not all - some route directly on the dialled number. Even where there is a delivery number, this isn't always a geographic. Particularly in the case of 09, the number used is normally a number that's non diallable (i.e. only works internal to the telephone network, indeed generally only works within a single operator's network). Very few 09 numbers use geos as delivery because it's a fraud instance waiting to happen.

0870 do typically translate to geographic numbers, though....but not always.

DonnyDave

From Hansard, 26 November 2007:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm071126/debtext/71126-0007.htm#0711266000464

Rob Marris: I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way with his usual smiling generosity. He referred a few moments ago to what might alliteratively be described as poor professional performance under this regulatory regime. Would that cover the surprising approach being taken by some GP practices, including some in my own constituency, and I believe by NHS Direct, of using 0845 numbers, which are a rip-off for the consumer—in this case, the patient? If this regulatory regime will not cover that practice, will he assure me that he will look into the matter? GPs are getting paid handsomely and properly by the state, yet some of them seem to wish to make extra money out of their patients’ phone bills.

Alan Johnson: My hon. Friend has raised an important point, but this is not a matter for the Bill. I am already well aware of the practice that he mentions, however, and we issued guidance earlier this year to say that patients should pay no more than the cost of a local call. Indeed, we believe that to charge in the way that he has described breaches the terms of the GP contract. The matter does not need the weight of this legislation, or the time that it would take to pass the measures, to deal with it.

1882

Under the freedom of information act you're entitled to be given the direct geographical number unless they can prove that giving it out would be severely detrimental (not to finances) or unsafe.

Someone in Scotland requested one for (I think it was NHS 24 which is the Scottish version of NHS Direct) and after appeal was refused it as calling one specific number (of the dozens they use) could stop other calls getting through. I doubt this argument could work for a surgery which probably only has one number.