Members and visitors may be interested to note that a newly published list of the 350 surgeries still shown by NHS Choices to be in breach of their NHS contracts is exciting some media interest, including a radio item scheduled for tomorrow lunchtime.

See the fair telecoms campaign newsfeed for details of the story and links to coverage as it arises.

Edited:

"A dozen surgeries in Greater Manchester are using premium 0844 numbers that can cost patients up to 41p a minute from a mobile phone"

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/premium-rate...

A total of 180 surgeries are continuing to use expensive numbers five years after being ordered to stop


See: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/millions-patients-still-being-ripped-off-56...

Good to see David H and the other Fair Telecoms Campaign guys keeping the pressure on.

Clayton Medical Centre in Clayton-le-Moors has just changed from 08444771761 to 01254-300250.
My mother is one over 30 patients in a care home all being cared for by this doctor and they ring most days apparently. The manager of the care home is understandably rather pleased(!)

They need to contact their telecoms provider and ask for the matching 0344 number to be activated and a free-to-caller message added to the 0844 number advising of the new number. Alternatively, they can request a new 030 number.

This is the 'reasonable step' that their GMS or PMS contract required them to take by 1 April 2011.

This change should not generate any penalty charges on their telecoms contract. Once the change has been made, the practice will become liable for the call handling charges for incoming calls and paying off the lease for switchboard equipment that may have come as part of the deal.

Adding a cheap number in parallel to the 0844 number is not an option. There is no place in the NHS for a two-tier service based on willingness or ability to pay.

Thank you SCV for that info.

I will pass it onto the Surgery.

I know they have a Geographic Number, but it is alongside the existing 084 number.  I will point out to them that they can request the 084 number be changed.

Many Thanks.

The problem is, they were required by an amendment to their GMS or PMS contract to have this conversation in the period April 2010 to March 2011 and withdraw any 084 numbers by 1 April 2011. Similarly, any usage of 087 and 09 numbers should have ceased in 2005.

The technical facilities of a non-geographic number (queueing, menu options, announcements and call-forwarding) have to be paid for. This is often in the range 1p to 2p per minute for calls forwarded to a UK landline and a bit more if calls are forwarded to a UK mobile. Non-geographic numbers begin 03, 08 or 09 and all offer the same technical facilities. The difference comes in who pays for them.

With 084, 087 and 09 numbers the call-handling and call-forwarding costs are paid for by callers through the imposition of a declared Service Charge (with any remainder being available as revenue share either as a cash payment or as a discount off other telephony services or used to pay off a lease for e.g. switchboard equipment).

With 03 and 080 numbers the call-handling and call-forwarding costs are paid for by the called party. This is the arrangement that customer service, public services and healthcare providers should be using.

Providers of non-geographic numbers offer number migration facilities within the lifetime of a telephone services contract as long as the funding arrangements are adapted to cover the loss of subsidy when moving from a number with a Service Charge to one without. The most obvious and simple migration is from a number starting 084 or 087 to the matching number starting 034 or 037.

While standard landlines do not have the advanced facilities that are available on a non-geographic number it is possible to obtain a 'virtual geographic number' starting 01 or 02 that behaves like a non-geographic number and has all the same facilities and which forwards the calls to a normal landline or mobile in the same way as non-geographic calls are forwarded. Call-handling and call-forwarding costs incurred by the called party are the same as for the 03 option.

One final point on costs. With 080 numbers the called party also pays an additional Call Origination Fee to compensate the caller's landline or mobile provider for the fact the caller paid nothing for the call. This fee is around 2p per minute for incoming calls made from landlines and around 5p per minute for incoming calls made from mobiles. For incoming calls made from BT payphones, this fee is around 80p per minute.

GPs have had more than five years to make these changes. The deadline for doing so expired more than four years ago. There can be no excuse for this delay, especially given that NHS England sent out a letter almost two years ago busting various myths that practices were using as excuses for remaining non-compliant.