GP practices must publicise 0844 call costs

GP practices that use 0844 telephone numbers have been told they must publicise the cost of using the service to patients.

The BMA’s General Practitioner Committee has told GPs that where 0844 numbers are used by practices there must be mention of the charge for telephone calls in the practice’s information leaflet.

The GPC has taken advice following a recent parliamentary debate in which health minister Ivan Lewis told the House of Commons that it was “entirely unacceptable” for patients to be charged more than the standard local call rate for contacting their surgery.

The GPC said there was no need for a message about the cost of calls on the telephone system itself but that information should be included in a practice leaflet. It said that while patients’ telephone providers may have a variety of charges for using 0844 numbers the price relevant to most consumers should be quoted.

The GPC added: “We are aware that there are probably few practices aware of this aspect of advertising practice” and asked local medical committees to cascade the information to practices.

Graham Stuart MP has been campaigning for an end to the use of 0844 telephone numbers by practices and claims around 1500 practices currently use the numbers.

Link

Practices use of 0844 numbers to be investigated

Fiona Barr