The other day my father was taken into hospital, and so because I am concerned I thought I would give him a call to see how he is. I dialled the number I was given by my mother (0700 3400014 and then the ext for his bed). A little voice whispered in my ear that this call did not cost the NHS any money, and then it went on to say that it would cost me 39p off peak and 49p peak. I felt nausious at this point as just listening to the message cost me at least 39p.

So rather than having a nice cheer up chat, with all the family wishing him well. I felt under pressure just to get the facts and tell him we would have a good chat when he gets out.

Are there alternitive numbers for 0700?

If you do find an alternative, I'm sure they'll be quick to close it down.

There's a long thread on here for Patientline. Patientline represents all that is wrong in today's telecoms industry. In a nutshell, GREED. They bit off more than they can chew because they believe(d) they can get away with it.

Telephony is not telephone companies' top priority, it's making money for shareholders and there are times when I think that the only way to get back on track is to have it all renationalised. Talking of been "on track", look at what happened on the railways because of people's facination with fragmentation and competition, people who know nothing about how the job they are overseeing.

Well, I don't know the going rate for receiving an 0800 call, but I'm sure they wouldn't be pleased .

That said, I don't know about the legality of doing such a thing - it could be equated to performing a Denial of Service attack on a computer, which is illegal...