| Thursday, 10 March 2005 | |
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Stoate's campaign leads to ban on use of national and premium rate telephone numbers by local NHS services Dr Howard Stoate’s long-running campaign against the use of national and premium rate phone numbers by local NHS services has been boosted this month with the announcement by the Department of Health that ‘0870’ and ‘09’ numbers are to be banned from April. The Health Minister, John Hutton MP, has said that from April, NHS organisations will not be able to set up new premium and national rate telephone numbers with a prefix of 087 or 09 for patients contacting local services. The Minister has also announced that the GP practices currently using national rate telephone lines will be expected to change to lo-call rate numbers, which offer patients a guaranteed low call rate. Dr Stoate who has led the campaign for the use of national rate numbers to be banned in local GP practices said; “I’m obviously very pleased that the Government has agreed to ban the use of 0870 numbers. It simply isn’t right that patients should have to pay a national rate call charge of up to 7.5p a minute to access front-line medical services. Many of the people who call their GP the most often after all are elderly and chronically ill patients, who can least afford to pay the extra call charges.” Dr Stoate also pointed that “many patients have call packages – for example BT Together Options 2 and 3 – which allow them free daytime calls to local numbers; even people with the Option 1 packages can get free daytime calls by registering with companies such as Call18866. Thousands of patients therefore have gone from paying NOTHING AT ALL for their calls to their local surgery to paying up to 7.5p a minute.” Dr Stoate now wants Health Ministers to go further however and ban the use of 0844 numbers by local NHS services as well as 0870 and 09 numbers; “Ringing an 0844 number can cost up to 5p a minute, which is 2p more than the standard daytime local call rate. Moreover patients with free daytime local call packages will still end up having to pay for their calls if practices are able to use 0844 numbers. I have therefore asked Ministers to ban the use of 0844 numbers by local NHS services as well.” “As far as I am concerned I don’t see why the private companies that are installing these phone systems in local practices should be allowed to make a profit directly at the expense of ordinary patients who need to contact their GP. It isn’t right, it isn’t fair on patients and it is entirely contrary to aims and fundamental principles of the NHS,” he added. Around 290 GP practices in England and Wales have established national rate lines, which charge up to 7.5p per minute, for taking patient appointments and requesting repeat prescriptions. In a parliamentary answer to Dr Stoate on 1 March, John Hutton, the Minister of State for Health announced; “From April, National Health Service organisations providing local services will not be able to adopt national or premium rate numbers. General Practitioner practices currently using national rate telephone lines will be expected to change these to lo-call numbers. |
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