Ringing your GP? It may costs more than you think as 14 Kirklees GP surgeries flout guidelines on cost of call

PATIENTS in Kirklees are still being ripped off by GPs using high-cost phone numbers.

A total of 14 of the area’s 72 practices are still using numbers charging above the local rate a month after being told to stop.

Health bosses said they were working with the surgeries to ensure patients are charged no more than a local call.

But campaigners have argued that Primary Care Trusts need to put more pressure on doctors to stick to the Government guidelines.

Family doctors were required to take “reasonable steps” from April 1 to ensure patients did not pay more when contacting them than they would to make an equivalent geographical call.

But a survey by protesters opposed to higher-cost telephone lines revealed that more than 1,000 surgeries were still using 0845 or 0844 numbers where prices are confusing and can be quite high on some call plans.

Calls to the numbers can be as much as 41p a minute from a mobile phone.

And campaigners claim that some patients phoning to book an appointment or chase-up test results are sometimes kept waiting on the line for 20 minutes.

This works out at £8 for a single call.

The clampdown followed a Government review which heard complaints from the public.

PCTs were instructed to amend GP contracts to ensure that the cost of calls made to surgeries were no higher than calling a local number from a landline, which is around 4p a minute.

There are 14 practices in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield still using the numbers.

David Hickson, who has led a long-running campaign on the issue, said: “It’s the elderly who will be hardest hit, or their relatives acting on their behalf.

“This is a case where the NHS’s principle of “free at the point of need” is being breached at present.

“We need PCTs to ensure that GPs do not breach the principles of the NHS by charging patients through use of expensive telephone numbers.”

Campaigners estimate that ten million patients are being affected by GPs flouting the guidelines.

A spokeswoman for NHS Kirklees said: “NHS Kirklees is working with the 14 GP practices to make sure that patients do not have to pay more than a local geographical call to contact their practice.”