0844 calls to doctors

Robothell

36square wrote: »

thanks robothell. I checked the site you mentioned but it only gives the 0844 number for my GP. I know these are only front numbers and that there's a normal number behind them if I could find out what it is.

PM me your surgery name and I'll see if I can get a hold of it for you, will answer back as a PM also.

Robothell

Nomad25

I think I must be one of the lucky ones. Our surgery has on-line access [EMIS] which can be used by patients to make appointments and order repeat prescriptions. I can also access them by a bog standard tel no.

System

Mine is using 0844, however there old number still works also

brightonman123

not sure about 0844 prefix- 0870/0871 numbers earn a commission on each call received;

a previous company i worked for had a call / order system installed 'free', with the supplier having access to the customer database for making ££ from marketing later on..

the saytono0870 site might have it listed..?

utilitybroker

Already a long thread running here.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=602529

Doctors have been told to stop using them !!!

36square

I know this is a national issue and has been raised in the House of Commons but as far as I know GPs in NI are only just catching on to this scam.
They'll tell you they're not making any money out of your call but i beleive the way its works is they get a free telephone system in return for the provider creaming off the extra call revenue.
Another angle to this is that my GP doesn't allow appointments to be made at the surgery, you have to ring at 8:30 in the morning along with everybody else. So they're making sure you have to ring them and of course you'll never get an engaged tone but a recorded message telling you they're busy to make sure you're charged for the call.

auddel_2

Hi, Just thought I would put my two penny worth in too. My doctor also uses the 0844 prefix which is very annoying, however it is not so bad now that I have a land line. Last year I only had a mobile phone. I had taken really ill and needed to phone the surgery but only had something like 80 pence of credit on mobile. When trying to get through to the surgery on the phone, the mobile would not let me because 'my money was low' (even though it would have been enough to phone anothe mobile). In the end I had to get out of bed and drive to the surgery to ask for a doctor to phone me. I complained to the receptionist about this, and she said that it does not cost anymore to phone the 0844 number from a mobile than from a landline, which is a load of rubbish.

Not everyone has a landline, especially among poorer households were a pre-paid mobile is easier to manage financially -why should they have to pay more to phone the doctors. You have to make sure you have a good bit of money on your mobile -just in case.:mad:

Robothell

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread but it might interest some that there is a DoH consultation document on this very topic at the moment (link). It's open to all people who use GPs etc inside England - I don't know if comments from NI will be taken but, on reading the document, the gist seems to say that if you feel you have the right to pass a comment then your views are welcome.

I would encourage anyone who has any views (positive or negative) to drop them a line after reading the documents and see if they can help.

To answer the questions above, it would appear that the GP practices actually do make some money out of the 084 numbers......

yourbestoption

This may be of interest to those who have an unlimited anytime call plan, inclusive of 0845/0870 numbers.

It appears that doctors surgeries who use 0844 numbers are not contactable from abroad using their 0844 number and some provide an alternative number for being contacted from abroad. These alternative numbers, although not being 01/02/03 numbers are usually 0870 numbers. So, look on the internet for your local surgery and you may well find a 0870 number for contacting them from abroad. If they have one you should be able to use it to contact them for FREE.

Hope this helps

Indigo's_Mum

www.saynoto0870.com

This covers any number beginning with 08 which has been submitted to them and gives you the local number to use instead.