Why is the NHS Using 0844 Phone Numbers?
Written by Karen Bryan
I’m waiting to see an orthopaedic surgeon for a consultation. Unfortunately there’s no clinic for this at our local hospital in Berwick upon Tweed. I’ll need to make a 60 mile round trip to the outpatient department in Alnwick. I was quite pleased to receive a letter with an appointment in early September, within a couple of weeks of referral. Then I noticed that the appointment was for Wansbeck Hospital instead of Alnwick.
I was annoyed that the contact telephone number given was an 0844 number, which incurs additional charges on most inclusive landline and mobile phone packages. I was unable to find out the exact cost of this call from a BT landline, as it appears that calling 0844 numbers varies in cost according to the two digits after the 0844. However, the cost varies between 1 and 13 pence a minute. The holders of some 0844 number receive 1 pence a minute in revenue sharing. On my Vodafone montly contract, it would cost 35 pence a minute to call an 0844 mnumber.
All I can say is thank goodness for the money saving Say No To 0870 site, where I was able to get the standard number for Northumbria HealthCare, which I could call with no additional charge from either my BT Anytime Call Package or my Vodaone mobile phone inclusive minutes.
I think that public bodies should be banned from using to non geographic numbers. My call to change my appointment lasted just under 5 minutes, so if I’d only had a mobile phone and used the Northumbria NHS 0844 contact number, it would have cost me around £1.70.
GPs were banned from using 0844 numbers in April 2010 and given one year to comply. GPs should have moved from 0844 to 0344 (or to new 01, 02 or 030 numbers) by April 2011.
Hospitals and other NHS bodies were banned from using 0844 and other such numbers several months before the changes to GP contracts were put in place.
Call prices for 084 and 087 numbers are complicated. There’s some useful information on the history of revenue share numbers, and details of the current situation, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-geographic_telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom
Dave – Northumbria Healthcare are still using an 0844 number in January 2013. They must’ve decide to ignore the ban.
It’s more likely that GPs and PCTs have either deluded themselves, or have been misled by interested parties, into thinking 0844 numbers are “local rate” calls. They are not. The ASA has ruled against similar false claims several times since 2006. All complaints made against such claims have been upheld.
0844 numbers are premium rate revenue share numbers. Calls to phone numbers beginning 0844 477, the range favoured by many GPs, include a 4.3p/min revenue share premium – the maximum allowed for 084 numbers. BT charge 4.3p/min plus VAT (totalling 5.1p/min) for these calls (BT is currently regulated to make zero profit on calls to 0843/4 and 0871/2 numbers). Other providers add at least several pence per minute profit. Mobile operators add up to 30p/min profit. BT price regulation for non-geographic numbers ends soon.
In 2007, Ofcom set aside the entire 034 number range for migration from exactly matching 084 numbers. The solution to these problems has been in place for 7 years but has been ignored by many.
The forthcoming Consumer Rights Directive (banning many businesses from using 084 and 087 numbers, and forcing a move to 01, 02 or 03 numbers) and the introduction of “unbundled” tarriffs (where the revenue share premium must be declared whenever and wherever the number is advertised, and where each phone company much clearly show the profit they add above the revenue share amount) will fix many of these issues in the next year or so – if they are properly enforced.
The revenue share for 084 numbers varies from 1p to 5p per minute and for 087 numbers varies from 5p to 10p per minute. The “premium” is regulated by Ofcom and the details for each number range are listed here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/numbering/s8_code.txt (cleverly disguised as “BT’s retail price”).
Callers from landlines such as Sky or Virgin are charged up to 15p per minute for 084 numbers and up to 20p per minute for 087 numbers. BT prices are exceptionally low as they are capped at zero profit, by regulation. BT landline callers pay the revenue share plus VAT.
From mobiles, 084 and 087 numbers cost up to 45p per minute even though the revenue share part is the same as listed in Ofcom’s file. Mobile operators make large profits on these calls.
Dave – thanks for the info. It was really difficult to try to find out the price of the call to the Northumbria Healthcare 0844 number.It’s unacceptable to make callers pay a premium rate for health related calls, especially as if they only have access to a mobile phone.
The PDF linked from this page mentions two important changes expected in the next month or two…
http://www.fairtelecoms.org.uk/1/post/2013/02/ofcom-to-announce-the-end-of-the-084-rip-off.htm