Source: Leicester Mercury

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Anger-hospitals-0844-number/article-3...

Anger at hospitals' 0844 number

Thursday, September 18, 2008, 14:42

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Health campaigners are up in arms about a new telephone system which will hit callers in the pocket.

A new 0844 number – which will charge almost everyone who rings any of the city’s three hospitals from a landline up to 5p a minute – has been introduced by hospital bosses .

Mobile phone users are also likely to pay more.

The new system is designed to route calls through the hospitals more efficiently and be more cost-effective to the health service.

However, patients’ watchdogs say the service, brought in at the start of this month, simply passes on the NHS’ costs to the public.

[…]

Zuffar Haq, chair of the Leicester Patients’ Group and member of the Leicester Mercury Patients’ Panel, said: “I am very disappointed that the hospital trust has done this. I hope managers will think again.

“They may be saving money on routing calls between hospitals, but they have effectively transferred the cost to patients, many of whom can least afford it.”

“I am also concerned that Leicester’s hospitals have opted into this scheme while the Government is reviewing use of these numbers.”

The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust say the new number – 0844 967 0460 – has been brought in “to provide a more effective and efficient telephone service for local people”.

The charges for calls pay for the running of the system.

Darren Brown, the trust’s telecommunications manager, said: “We expect our new 0844 number to improve the experience for anyone calling up.”

He added: “It will also save the trust money. Without this we would have to pay to route calls between our hospital sites.”

[…]

“We started out with the best of intentions. We will wait and see what the Department of Health says in its review of these numbers, If there is a problem and there is a better way of doing things we will have another look at this.”

The Mercury has been hold that hospital bosses are to meet today to discuss the issues raised over the new numbers.
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It's also not exactly hard to send calls across any data links they might have between sites, or even across the internet!  Heck, I had one of our customers routing calls between sites down a tunnel across the internet using 512K ADSL, lines almost 10 years ago...

There was another article in Leicester Mercury on Thursday:

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/mercuryopinion/think-costs-hospital-calls/...

Isn't it bizarre that they have a 'freepost' and a revenue earning telephone number?

I haven't time currently (got to go!) but can someone point out to them that they are in breach of 'Trading Standards Institute guidance 180805' by referring to the number as 'low call'. I have posted full details of this in recent moths on the site.

Quote:

You should not state that callers will be charged local or low raters for 084x numbers.

You should also not use the words which could imply a local or national rate e.g. Lo-call.....

Use of the mis-description "Low-" or "Lo-" "call" is clearly intended to mislead callers, I do not disagree.

I hope that the success of the saynoto0870 campaign over many years is helping to breed sufficient scepticism for callers to view any such description with suspicion. We have not however won the battle yet, so it is right for regulations to prohibit use of this term. I hope that someone has notified the trust and the appropriate authorities.


For myself, I am content to refer to use of the term as confirmation of the fact that 084x numbers are the lowest earning members of the group of money-earning number ranges.

I believe that those who use the term to describe their numbers must be are prepared to accept that it confirms their affiliation (albeit in a junior position) with those who make money from receiving telephone calls, because that is the only context in which the costs are relatively "low".

We await the formal re-designation by Ofcom of all revenue sharing numbers as being used for "premium rate services". Once this is done then NHS officials can take their place on the board of PhonePayPlus alongside representatives of providers of SES.


When addressing NHS and public sector users of revenue sharing numbers, I address, but do not place great emphasis on, the absolute costs of calling. The most extreme cases are caused by unwarranted profiteering by mobile telcos, over which the renters of 084x numbers have no direct control.

It is the issue of principle that is more easily addressed, as this avoids silly arguments about how many service users have which type of telephone package, which nobody knows for certain. It also avoids the need to address the perverse discounting presently applied by BT for some callers to 0845 and some 0844 numbers.

If West Herefordshire NHS Trust is ready to concede that it is making some money from those who wish to participate in its consultation, whereas it could be making much more (so as to divert less from its proper function of delivering healthcare), then this is an issue on which the people it serves may wish to express a view.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Sep 27^th, 2008 at 1:11am:


Extensive coverage in the Leicester Mercury 27 Sep

The following brief Press Association release is found being used around the East Midlands and also in Scotland

Quote:

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Oct 1^st, 2008 at 12:03am:


Would anyone like to register with the site and reply to the man from the trust:

Quote:


Why are so many people dealing with telecoms so ill-informed? Don't they use phones themselves at home? Most people now have inclusive calls on their landline at home, and inclusive minutes on their mobiles. Comparing pence-per-minute rates is simply not a valid analysis any more.

There is also the issue of the cost of calls from phoneboxes.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Sep 27^th, 2008 at 1:11am:

A further announcement has given the new number - 0300 3031573.