Open Petitions - Petition PE1285

Petition by Caroline Mockford calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to make arrangements for all calls from mobile phones to NHS 24 to be free of charge to users.

Background

Current situation with landline calls to NHS 24 using 084 prefix

NHS 24 currently charges all landline calls at a local rate using the 084 prefix. This prefix is a non-geographic number used by businesses and organisations to provide a wide range of services such as sales lines, customer service/enquiry functions and recorded information services. Businesses or organisations using 084 numbers may receive a share of the call charge. Ofcom¹ notes that these numbers are generally more expensive to call than ordinary geographic numbers. However, calls to NHS 24 are charged at a local call rate.