Dawlish Discussion

More than 1,000 surgeries are still charging patients more than 40p a minute to make a call, a month after they were told to stop.

Doctors should no longer use the high cost 0844 or 0845 lines under guidelines that came into force at the beginning of last month.

Calls to these numbers can cost as much as 41p a minute from a mobile phone, with GPs keeping part of the income.

Campaigners say that some patients phoning to book an appointment or chase up test results are sometimes kept waiting on the line for 20 minutes, working out at £8 for a single call.

The clampdown followed a Government review which heard complaints from more than 3,000 members of the public.

In September 2009 the Department of Health announced that GPs would be banned from using the high rate numbers, and the guidelines came into force on April 1.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1382565/10m-patients-ripped-GPs-40p-minute-phone-lines.html#ixzz1LBEr6EtG

You are right User 4549. Their website still shows the premium number, you are also unable to email them. Obviously an oversite on their part.!!!!!!

The number to use is 888877

Yeah I still use the old original number.

If you want a same day appointment at 8.30am you have to use the premium number !!!!

I always use the 888877 number, even at 8.30 and I get through OK

Xen maybe should have kept shhh lol ...they may go and stop the number now everyone knows!

ive tried that, and it has been engaged for 15mins or more by which time too late to get an appointment!!!!

Has anybody elso emailed the surgery?, I have --------- enquiries.bartondawlish2@nhs.net and included the article

An 0844 or 0845 is not a number, it is simply a 'diverter'. You can only have an 0844 or 0845 number if you already have a geographic, ie landline number to divert the call to. So the 'old' number will work as it was never disconnected this is simply the number to which the 0844/5 number is diverted.

If the number is engaged or you are kept waiting then it simply means the number is busy and it will make no difference which number you call, your call goes to the same landline number.

Artuksa, You may be right and I have no reason to doubt you, but has the surgery confirmed this?

I dont think you are right, as I have rung the 08 number and have been charged on my mobile, when ringing the landline number its free. Also been charged for it when ringing from my landline. I was told at the surgery that it is a seperate number!!!!!

Quite right Smokey, you will be charged for calling the 08 number from a mobile, even on a contract, Orange charge 17p per minute to call an 0845 number, that is the point I am making, call the landline number and that is usually included in your call plan. The call plan usually includes calls to GEOGRAPHIC numbers, eg with a dialling code, an 0845 etc number is classified as non-geographic hence you will be charged for it.

When you call on your landline whether or not you pay depends on your call plan, BT now include calls to 0845 but not 0844, that is why I object to people like doctors using 0845 as they are making a profit from what would be a free call for most people.

0844 and 0845 are not numbers they are diverters, anyone can have an 0844 or 0845 number, you can buy one for your home phone and give that number out to everyone to call you on. Advantage being that you decide what the call will cost, up to a max price depending on whether you have an 0844 or 0845 number, which have a max charge of around 5p per minute, but you can charge less. 0906 number can be charged at £1-50 per minute, hence used for things such as X factor and shopping channels.

Once you set this up and have decided what the charge will be you receive your share whenever anyone calls you. One reason for setting up such a number for companies was that wherever you called from in the UK you would pay the same as anyone else. eg a company in London would use and 0845 number and whether you called from Glasgow or Reading the call would cost the same.

The other reason is that if you move and change your landline number you simply give this number to the 'diverter' and your calls are re-routed to your new number, hence you have one number forever and simply change the divert when you live somewhere else.

0870 and 0871 are the same thing but you can make higher charges for these so making more money for yourself when people call you.

The reason why 0844 and 0871 was introduced was that BT started including 0845 and 0870 in their call inclusive plans, so people using 0845 and 0870 didn't make money so the 0844 and 0871 were introduced to bypass the inclusive call cost from BT.

I won't use such numbers and if you come across them go to http://www.saynoto0870.com/

This site lists many numbers that are the 'real' number behind the 0845/44/70/71 etc.. YOU CANNOT HAVE AN 0845 etc etc UNLESS YOU HAVE A LANDLINE NUMBER TO DIVERT TO.

Ask the surgery, why, I doubt the receptionist has any idea how the telecoms system operates and how call diverters work and why should they. This is also similar to people who divert their landlines to their mobile phones when they go out, only difference is that the call to the landline is paid for by the caller but the ongoing call to the mobile is charged to the mobile user who set up the divert.

I really don't mind whether you believe me or not, I'm simply explaining how and why these non-geographic numbers were introduced.

You can have a multi stage divert, eg using an 0844/45 etc number if the fist phone diverter isn't answered you can have it transferred after a number of rings to another number or a mobile, even to an overseas number, but that will be charged to you. Many phone scams operate by giving people a uk number to call them back on then doing a divert on the callback to a foreign number so people think they are talking to someone in the UK as they dialled a UK number.

Anyway, I think that is enough for tonight.

Thank you for a very comprehensive explanation