Phone the Doctors at premium rate

[louisiana]

As a Forest Hill Road patient, I have added my name to the petition and have also written to Daniel Marshell.

However, as someone repeatedly affected by this (I'm currently in recurring 'hospital-can-nver-get-my-address-or-GP-right' hell) I would like to take more direct action to embarrass the practice, as they clearly take no notice of anything else.

Any other FHR practice patients who would like to join me?

[PeckhamRose]

Ohh good for you louisiana, I hope this direct action works! Keep us informed.

My fear would be the surgery bans you as is their right.

Are you within the Nunhead Surgery catchment area? Can't praise them enough.

[Narnia]

Just noticed that Forest Hill Practice are still charging about 8p a minute to listen to their options and to wait for someone to answer. Does anyone have up to date information as the last post was a year ago?

[*Bob*]

Vote with your feet and switch your phone provider to one who includes all 0845/0870 etc calls as part of their package (Talk Talk does, even on it's cheapest ?6.99/month evening/weekend package).

Then you can just forget about it.

[Narnia]

Their number is an 0844 one. Do you know a plan which includes those? Do you know the difference between 0844 and 0845 numbers by the way, as I don't?

[*Bob*]

That said, I think FHR only takes appointments in the morning on weekdays, doesn't it?

Anyway, whilst the principle of paying to phone a Docs surgery does 'seem' worse, but you still need to phone all the other places that use 0845 numbers too. I think the answer is to make all 0845 numbers pointless by choosing an operator who includes them - if enough people do that, there won't be any need for any of them.

They're a hangover from the days of national and local price banding (now obsolete) which was meant to encourage you to call companies who weren't local at no extra expense. Now even some of the shops at the bottom of our road have 0845 numbers.. yet calling Aberdeen is free.

[Narnia]

You may have missed my last post about it being an 0844 number *Bob*.

[*Bob*]

Narnia Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Their number is an 0844 one. Do you know a plan

> which includes those? Do you know the difference

> between 0844 and 0845 numbers by the way, as I

> don't?

Hmm. looks like you're right. 0844 is not covered by TalkTalk. Now en route to throw a half-ender through their windows.

Apparently many places are also changing their numbers from 0845/70 to 0844, to keep the cash coming-in.

[Huguenot]

According to this site, 0844 numbers charge 5p per minute, and the recipient gets 1.5p of that.

That makes me think they impose charges to dissuade you from calling, rather than get rich.

Either way, if you're paying 9p then your provider must be surcharging an additional 4p!

[*Bob*]

A GP friend of mine did tell me (his estimation of) the percentage of patients he sees who are 'hypochondriac regulars'. I forget the figure but it was pretty high. It seemed to account for the lion's share of his time.

He said part of the difficulty (and potential danger) with being a GP was that they see so many people with absolutely nothing wrong with them whatsoever - that the chances of missing the ones who are actually ill increases.

[tiddles]

to get around premium rate numbers, go to this website and tap in the number or company name- it will search and come up with a normal number for you to ring - I use it all the time

http://www.saynoto0870.com

[Loz]

If you want to be sneaky, tell 'em you are away in France or something and need to ring them. 0844 numbers and their like can't be called from outside the country, so they'll need to give you the 020 number.

Then post it here!

[Zak]

As far as the cost of ringing 0844 numbers goes, not only do they fall outside the "free call packages" to which many people subscribe ( BT only include 0845 & 0870 numbers), but the 5p charge which 0844 numbers are supposed to cost, only applies to calls from landlines

Call charges from mobiles are set by the mobile provider and are usually anything between 25p-35p per minute. This means that a 3 minute call to the GP on a mobile to make an appointment could easily cost over ?1.00! And what's more, the GPs get a cut from the cost of the call to their 0844 number (that's why these numbers are being used more and more by commercial organisations selling services such as ticket sales for concerts, travel etc etc.)

If you've got a landline, then at least it's possible to choose to use that and limit the cost to 5p per minute. However, many people with limited budgets may only have a mobile and for them there's no choice - they end up paying the most.

One of the problems, is that telephony call charges are so diverse and complex, that few people know exactly what's being charged - and that includes GPs themselves

0844 numbers are a mechanism for making money and should be limited to commercial providers. They shouldn't be used by organisations providing public services.

[PeckhamRose]

Change GPs. Nunhead Surgery does not play this game. Soon you'll be able to register with a doctors of your choice.

[NHS.Patient]

Following the consultation that finished last year the government has moved to ban use of expensive telephone numbers by NHS GPs.

Contract changes came into effect on 1 April 2010, giving them 12 months in which to change their arrangements.

The situation is far from "done and dusted" and there are plenty of complications.

There is lots more info on my blog - http://nhspatient.blogspot.com/.

Please make contact for a full briefing on the situation and any help needed to deal with the particular local issues.

[bil]

These payments are not acceptable to vulnerable or housebound patients who need to call their GP for help-these people could be deterred from calling their GP and for this reason I disagree with the charges.

However, I am not sure how many people making the comments on this thread fall into that category. If you can afford to pay for an i-pod, annual holidays, pets insurance, ?1.50 for a coffee at a cafe or go the delis, boutique shops in ED etc then is it so bad to pay a few pounds to your local GP practice which is probably resource stretched e.g. restricted funding, large population sizes, probably understaffed. Money that could possibly contribute to fund repairs or an extra nurse or receptionist to deal with all of the non-emergencies (If this is generating an income one should hope that it is used to improve the running of the practice). I don't know whether the income is enough for a profit or just to help with running costs. Many GP practices don't use these numbers probably (and correctly) on moral grounds.

People are increasingly demanding more of the NHS but don't want to pay for it. Yes I know we all pay NI but if you really knew the cost of providing healthcare, you would know that our contributions are a drop in the ocean.

[PeckhamRose]

How come my surgery doesn't need to do it then? They are an independent practice The Nunhead Surgery and they are not owned by a big American company like some of the GP practices are (I think Melbourne Grove is one such). Please don't come out with patronising statements such as "if you really knew the cost of providing healthcare". Just because some people can afford to pay does not mean everyone can, and those that can may not be able to in the future.

[Huguenot]

Well I imagine availability of services has many complex influences - catchment area, economic affluence, cultural attitudes etc. It may work for your practice but not for others.

On the note of expense, 10% of the population carries over 55% of tax bill. If we assume that locals don't fall into that high-earning category then locally each taxpayer (around 27m in total) pays around 1,750 annually into the NHS.

I know that a personal private package (e.g. BUPA) would approach that, and a family pack be beyond that. I also know that we all pay a wee bit extra for the less priveleged and I'm happy with that.

I can also understand that a practice would want to avoid vexatious or indulgent costs that increase the expense for more rational customers.

It's not such a bad deal.

[bil]

In response to : "if you really knew the cost of providing healthcare". I am sorry, I didn't mean to patronise. I even know the cost figures myself.

[KidKruger]

A couple of years ago when I was registered at the Forest Hill surgery, the telno was 0208 693 2264.

[PeckhamRose]

020 8299 0499, that takes you to the Manager, but you could ask to be transferred saying you refuse to pay premium rate?

[Narnia]

Well done PR. I'll try that next time.