Hello

I wonder if anyone can help i am looking for geographical number for 08444770945, this is my local doctors surgery. Old 01243 number no longer works, told to redial. Cant seem to find geo number anywhere  :(

Cheers

Kayla

~ Edit by Dave: Thread title amended

Quote:

I wonder if anyone can help i am looking for geographical number for 08444770945, this is my local doctors surgery

Unfortunately it will not be possible to find the geographical number.

Your GP signed up with a company called NEG who provided a new telephone system for the surgery in exchange for part of the revenue generated by the 0844 calls to the surgery.  This in effect means that the patients phoning the surgery are financing the practice's new telephone system.

There have been numerous threads on the forum about this practice which clearly contradicts the fundamental principle of the NHS that the service should be free at the point of use. GPs are self employed business people who are supposed to finance their practices from the income they receive from the local Primary Care Trust without any contribution from patients. As has been reported in the press, their income has increased substantially in recent years, it is therefore even more shameful that they should look to their patients to finance a new telephone exchange. Your GP is not on the breadline, he/she may well earn in the £100,000 p.a. bracket - compare this with the income of elderly patients on low pensions.

Calls to 0844 numbers from a BT landline cost 5p/min + a 3p set-up charge. From payphones and mobiles they cost considerably more. 0844 numbers cannot generally be dialled from abroad, so if you or other doctors have cause to contact your GP while you are on holiday/business abroad the chances are that they will not be able to do so.

The only thing you can do is complain to the GP pointing out what I tried to set out above. There are probably standard letters of complaint in previous threads, come back if you wish to pursue this.

And, unfortunately, the practice manager - who salivated over the promise of a 'free' telephone system (and, possibly, a rake off from the calls income too) just saw £ signs when the NEG salesperson came to call and didn't think any further - will probably just reply using a standard letter which, fairly obviously, will have been drafted by NEG in anticipation of the furore the introduction of the disguised premium rate number would produce.

Free at the point of use indeed.  Tell that to the pensioner who's listening to the endless 'press this, press that' options and/or music-on-hold whilst paying 10.91p per minute to call the surgery from a phone box!

I totally agree, having an 0844 number for an NHS service is disgraceful, as you say the doctors earn a lot of money. I feel it is really sad that disabled and elderly people that cannot get to the surgey to make an appointment and have to rely on the phone are charged this extortionate fate just to make an appointment. Also they keep you hanging on the line, i have phoned before and been told i was 19th in line. Sometimes the receptionists leave the phone for ages before they answer, which means you are still paying for the call even though they havent answered. I am disgusted by this, is there anything else that can be done about it?

Kayla wrote on Jan 25^th, 2007 at 2:59pm:

I totally agree, having an 0844 number for an NHS service is disgraceful, as you say the doctors earn a lot of money. ...

That is what Janice Gregory, Welsh Assembly Member referred to and found herself in trouble. She said that doctors were "making a fast buck", but these people are slippery and argued that the revenue was paid straight to the provider of the system such as NEG and not kept by the surgery.

See here.  ;)

19th in the queue?  Good grief.

My surgery (in a village of 4000 people but which covers surrounding villages and hamlets too) has 4 doctors and its own pharmacy (for those who can't get to the Chemist's shop 300 yards away).

They haven't (yet) been duped and, trying to call at 8.30am for an appointment often means you get the engaged tone (i.e. no charge) but pressing the LNR button a few times in the next 3, 4, 5 or 10 minutes always gets a reply within seconds.  Why is there a need to have a queueing system?

Sorry, I forgot. Money! (in the form of a 'free' telephone system of course, so it's deniable).

Anyone want to be a Lord?

Quote:

That is what Janice Gregory, Welsh Assembly Member referred to and found herself in trouble. She said that doctors were "making a fast buck", but these people are slippery and argued that the revenue was paid straight to the provider of the system such as NEG and not kept by the surgery.

I thought at the time - and still think - that there was no need to throw in the towel.  Being a politician she may not have wanted to fight this particular case for political reasons.  Pity, we could have lent her support  :(

lompos wrote on Jan 26^th, 2007 at 4:38pm:

Quote: That is what Janice Gregory, Welsh Assembly Member referred to and found herself in trouble. She said that doctors were "making a fast buck", but these people are slippery and argued that the revenue was paid straight to the provider of the system such as NEG and not kept by the surgery. I thought at the time - and still think - that there was no need to throw in the towel. ...

See my post here.