Home phone News

Calls for doctors to stop using premium rate phone numbers

Friday 27 January, 2012

By Anthony Hill

Expensive GP appointment lines “must be stopped”.

Doctor’s surgeries should not be allowed to use premium numbers which push up patients’ phone bills. This is according to former defence secretary Bob Ainsworth, who led a House of Commons debate on the issue this week.

He urged ministers to intervene, after a survey by consumer champion Which? claimed that 13% of local health centres in England use expensive 084 and 085 numbers for appointment booking. “No one should pay enhanced charges to access their GP,” argued Ainsworth.

In 2005, the government banned GPs from using premium rate numbers, but this did not include ones beginning with 084 or 085, which sometimes cost just a few pence a minute. However, the charges vary depending on the caller’s home phone provider - and from mobiles they tend to be considerably higher.

Ainsworth believes it is often the poorest members of society who end up being worst affected by these kinds of charges. “It is no longer the case that people who use mobiles are among the better-off,” he explained.

“The people affected are disproportionately the more deprived members of our community. There is proven evidence that people who do not have access to a fixed, and therefore depend on a mobile phone, are disproportionately from the poorer sectors of society.”

Meanwhile, police forces across the UK have recently introduced a “101” non-emergency telephone number for less urgent calls, such as complaints about anti-social behaviour, reports of stolen property or enquiries about ongoing investigations.

It is hoped the number will become common knowledge, to ensure that 999 is only used in life-threatening emergencies where an immediate response is required. Calls to 101, from both landlines and mobiles, cost 15p no matter what time they’re made or how long you’re on the phone.

Photo by Phillie Casablanca

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