idb wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2007 at 1:21am:


One wonders what their investigation will reveal?

Heinz wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2007 at 9:15am:


Clearly one certainly can hope so.

But one has a terrible feeling that pressure may be applied from on high to this PCT CEO and threats about the security of his job made if he does not find that this new high tech system cannot be satisfactorily funded unless the NEG 0844 model is used.

Of course perhaps this CEO is a maverick and/or is on the verge of retiring or wanting to move on to another kind of job.  In which case he may be prepared to produce a report that tells the truth about the grotesque misuse of these covert premium rate numbers.

What this does show though is that all of you who have a doctor's surgery that uses an 0844 number must go through the complaints procedure to the top level at your PCT in order to hopefully cause other similar reviews of the appropriateness of the use of NEG 0844 numbers to take place.

The West Sussex County Times ran an article last week about the introduction of 0844 numbers in the Horsham area, and has been inundated with letters and e-mails of complaint from its readers.  Another follow-up article is due on Friday. . .

Read this, typical...

http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/Health-phone-system-chaos.3134861.jp

This is only 7 miles down the road from me and comes after a very recent hunt on my part had at that stage indicated no 0844 NEG numbers in Dorking or Horsham or my surrounding villages.  The only nearby NEG surgeries were in airport worker Crawley.

I clearly need to write a letter or send a press release to the paper entering in to the debate and pointing out I am a former local district councillor and national anti 084/7 campaigner who had a resolution passed on neighbouring Mole Valley District Council to make sure that they never used these ripoff phone numbers.

Also perhaps directing people in the West Sussex County Times to the debate that is going on here as well as to our website in general.

[quote author=SilentCallsVictim link=1160182005/240#250 date=1187947937][quote author=sherbert link=1160182005/240#247 date=1187940548]Read this, typical...

http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/Health-phone-system-chaos.3134861.jp
[/quote]

"Typical" in that it attacks the system for being simply "new" and "controversial" without pointing out what is truly wrong about it, other than it being likely to fail, as with any new technology.

The true issue is this NHS GP using a revenue-sharing NGN to fund delivery of its services by collecting money from patients as they use them.

The explanation in the pdf file linked to at [url]http://www.parksurgery.com/[/url] points out the difference between "0844 numbers" and "0870 or premium rate numbers" simply in terms of the lesser cost - "0844 numbers cost just over 4p per minute to call (plus VAT this equals 4.9p)".

Some will pay more, but otherwise it is perfectly correct, the level of cost is the only difference. The principle is the same, callers are paying money to the person called. The caller paying the provider for a service delivered by telephone may be OK for "sexual entertainment" services, but it is not for NHS services.

There are many other issues with NGNs and there may be other issues with Surgery Line, such as reliability, but this particular case is "typical" in that it fails to raise the most important point.

Thanks are due to jimnutt and sherbert for bringing this to our attention, I intend no criticism.

David
[/quote]


I also believe that some families put a bar on 08 numbers to stop these numbers being used by members of the family to keep down telephone costs. To un block you have to put a fairly long pin number in and then dial. So what I am saying is that this could cause all manner of problems when someone wants tthe doctor quickly..

[quote author=NGMsGhost link=1160182005/240#252 date=1187948914][quote author=sherbert link=1160182005/240#251 date=1187948636]I also believe that some families put a bar on 08 numbers to stop these numbers being used by members of the family to keep down telephone costs. To un block you have to put a fairly long pin number in and then dial. So what I am saying is that this could cause all manner of problems when someone wants tthe doctor quickly..
[/quote]
I am not aware of a call barring facility currently existing for 08 number ranges as Ofcom does not define them as premium rate (despite what the dictionary says) and also any bar on 08 numbers would catch Freephone numbers too.

However it is undoubtedly true that many overseas telecoms carriers will not carry calls at all to either the 0844 numbers normally used by NEG Surgeryline practices or to the even more expensive 0870 numbers that scumbag liars NEG then try to offer as the replacement number for calling from overseas.[/quote]

According to the story in today's West Sussex County Times there is this facility. Anyone who can get this paper this item is on the front page column two

Quote:


how definitive is this statement?

I thought 0870 number can be connected from overseas.  If there are any exceptions it would be good to know what they are.