New Gaywood 'phone service slammed
A WEST Norfolk doctor's practice has been accused of "robbing its patients" after introducing a new telephone number which charges up to 40p a minute.
Patients at Vida Healthcare's Gayton Road Health Centre in Gaywood and Carole Brown Health Centre in Dersingham are being charged more when they ring to make an appointment after GPs switched their local rate number to an expensive 0844 number.
The new number has been slammed by Gayton Road patient and former health authority chairman Roy Spencer, of Lynn.
"Not only does the call now cost more but we have to deal with an automated phone system making our calls last longer and therefore costing more," he said.
Mr Spencer, who was chairman of the former West Norfolk and Wisbech Health Authority 20 years ago, said the move was particularly unfair to the elderly and vulnerable.
"The more you accept these type of things the more it's going to cost us in the end. So much for a free health service. Doctors should stop robbing their patients."
The new number was installed earlier in the year, but Mr Spencer said as no letters were sent to patients he only discovered the change when he made an appointment last week.
It is thought the two surgeries are the only ones in West Norfolk using an 0844 number, which costs 5p a minute from a landline and 40p from a mobile. This compares to a local rate of 3.25p a minute.
When the Lynn News phoned Gayton Road on Wednesday, it took more than two minutes of going through options and being on hold to speak to someone.
By the time the call ended, about the time it would take to make an appointment, it had taken about three minutes – a cost of around 1.20 on a mobile.
In 2005, the Department of Health issued guidance to GP surgeries about the use of high-cost numbers following complaints that some surgeries were using premium-rate 0870 numbers, which are even more expensive. The 0844 number, although not technically premium rate, is still much dearer than a local call.
But as GP surgeries manage their own business, the NHS cannot force them to change.
Graham Dickerson, managing partner of Vida Healthcare, which operates both Gayton Road and Carole Brown surgeries, said their phone system has been approved by the DOH and is used in around 1,200 practices across the country.
He admitted mobile suppliers charge high rates to 0844 numbers, as they do many numbers, but said: "That's not really my problem."
He said the system, which handles 25,000 calls a month, was brought in as a direct result of patients' comments about phone access, with many saying they would rather wait in a queue than having to keep re-dialling. The surgeries' two patient groups were also involved.
Jill Brock, chairman of Gayton Road's Patient Participation Group, said posters asking people to attend a meeting to discuss the new number were put up and letters were sent out with repeat prescriptions, but only two of the centre's 17,000 patients turned out.
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Thursday 09 September 2010
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