Telephone calls from Doctor's Surgery

rubble2

Don't know if this is a universal problem or just confined to our surgery but over the past few days I have missed a few calls to my mobile from 'Private Number'  I mentioned this to my wife who said it is probably the Doctor's Surgery calling they always show as Private number.

To satisfy my curiosity I tried ringing the surgery back to check - no luck (permanantly engaged) so contacted them via their 'e consult' online messaging system. I got a reply saying that they had not tried to contact me but confirming that calls from the surgery will routinely appear as 'Private Number' 'No caller ID' or 'Unknown Number'.
These are exactly the type of calls which most people will actively avoid answering so why can't they have a system that displays that it is the Doctor's Surgery who are trying to get in touch?

molerat

Yep, not very well thought out and is a fairly common problem. Generally they don't want you to call back on that number but if they had a clue what they were doing they could spoof the reception number.  Not as bad as our dentist who calls from a premium rate number to catch out the unwary but you can contact them on a local number - the same last 6 digits but with the local code !

JJ_Egan

MY doctors surgery never shows as a private number .

clearancer

My doctors surgery always shows a withheld number

parcival

Never withheld at our surgery (or dentist). But agree that it is impossible to call the doctor as always engaged. No problem with Dentist.
I wonder if the excuse of Covid will still apply after 19th July!

Carrot007

rubble2 said:

I got a reply saying that they had not tried to contact me but confirming that calls from the surgery will routinely appear as 'Private Number' 'No caller ID' or 'Unknown Number'.
These are exactly the type of calls which most people will actively avoid answering so why can't they have a system that displays that it is the Doctor's Surgery who are trying to get in touch?

If that's how it's set up for them you would rather you they spent money on upgrading the system rather than providing a service.

I only pick up privtae numbers if I am expecting them. However the doctors would always leave a messgae to distinguise them from other numbers.

I have no issues getting back in contact with them. At times I may press yes call me back as there are 8 people in the queue already but it depends on the time.

MalMonroe

If it's the same as our GP surgery, they sometimes phone (and strangely, sometimes their number is displayed, sometimes it's withheld) but if they can't get hold of us, they leave a phone message.

If we fail (or sometimes forget) to respond, they write to us. So if it is your doctor trying to get in touch, they will, at some point by one method or another.

Often, if you get a 'private number' call on your mobile, it's just scammers. So you are probably better off ignoring them anyway. If someone legitimate does want to contact you urgently, they will leave a message. That's certainly been my experience, anyway.

Carrot007

MalMonroe said:

Often, if you get a 'private number' call on your mobile, it's just scammers.

No that's how my doctors call me. No one in their right mind rings the landline. I never answer it, ever. Unless I want some fun! (It's only there because broandband costs more without it).

greyteam1959

Our doctors surgery numbers show as withheld numbers.

Mnoee

I have a Zoom consultation with a specialist soon, and they chose to give me the link with a paper letter. No option to email or text. I'm going to really enjoy entering the extremely long and random url. Maybe I can find some ocr app to read and copy it, but why, why not just email?! 

I really really love the option to Zoom vs get on multiple busses to a hospital miles away. I wish they were smart enough to realise that someone who can get on Zoom would find an email with a link a thousand times easier. 

Just another example of the NHS understanding technology enough to get it almost right! 

oldagetraveller1

"I wonder if the excuse of Covid will still apply after 19th July!"

Possibly not but they've now become too used to not seeing patients and carry on with the telephone consultations and diagnoses!

My GP phoned last year re an issue I was having, totally wrong conclusion. A few days later Nurse Practitioner phoned, got it right and prescribed the correct medication.

My surgery appear to have passed on much of the phoning to Practice Nurses. Had a call yesterday evening to go through blood results. Practice Nurse from the surgery which always displays their number, as does the Dental Practice.