BMA says 084 must run its course

Tags: 084 BMA DH GP Quality

24 Feb 2009

GP practices using 084 telephone numbers must be allowed to serve out the terms of their contracts with telephone suppliers if the government decides to ban them from the NHS, the British Medical Association has said.

In its response to the current consultation on 084 numbers, the BMA has told the Department of Health that it would support a voluntary switch for practices to revert to local numbers.

However, it said it was concerned that many surgeries using 084 numbers had signed up to a long contract, so that even if they wanted to change they would be unable to do so immediately.

The consultation was launched in December after growing concern that patients were subsidising the NHS by calling revenue sharing telephone numbers, which are used by approximately 1,500 GP practices in the UK as well as some hospitals and primary care trusts.

Health minister Ben Bradshaw said that while some members of the public valued the additional services provided by 084 numbers, others objected to being charged more than the cost of a local call to contact NHS services.

In its response, the BMA said it believed people should be charged as low a cost as possible to call the NHS, but hat this had to be balanced by the quality of service they were accessing.

It added: “Many practices value the extra functions that a number such as 084 and 03 can provide, as they want to improve access to patients by providing telephone numbers with extra functionality.”

The BMA claimed the DH and PCTs had actively encouraged practices to adopt the systems that 084 numbers can provide to improve access.

The response adds: “Practices should not be penalised for following the Department’s advice, and as they brokered a deal with the companies before to move them from the old 0870 numbers to 0844, they should be able to do so again by supporting a move back to local numbers.”

The doctors’ association said it welcomed BT’s decision to allow 0845 numbers to be free within their call packages.

The BMA said the government could encourage all telephone companies to review their call charges to NHS services, and include 084 numbers in comprehensive call packages so that patients did not incur additional costs.

The closing date for responses to the consultation is 31 March. The government has pledged to publish a response by the end of April 2009.

Related article: Official consultation on 084 numbers

Fiona Barr

Reader's Comments

Asterisk

roseneath@ntlworld.com

24 Feb 09 22:02

It puzzles me why nobody is looking at Asterisk. This is an Open-source PBX system which has all the bells and whistles of the 084 numbers plus a bit, and could be implemented by a PCT so that each GP surgery are extensions of a PCT wide network. This would make all calls within the local NHS secondary and primary care free, and you would not have the problem of engaged surgery or hospital phone lines.

http://www.asterisk.org/

BMA supports charging for NHS services!

NHS.Patient@ntlworld.com

25 Feb 09 00:02

"Free at the point of need" does not mean the patients must never incur costs, e.g. the bus fare to the surgery or the cost of a "normal" telephone call. The consultation is about the surcharges incurred when calling revenue sharing 084 numbers, that provide subsidy or income to the NHS provider.

The BMA says very clearly "people should be charged (as low a cost as possible) to call the NHS". That should mean no charge at all for the benefit of the NHS provider. The BMA however states that GPs using 0844 (not just 0845) numbers should continue to receive funding from callers, or perhaps from telephone companies, until they have paid off the leases on supposedly "free" equipment they were given when adopting "Surgery Line" and similar systems.

Their contracts for telephone service with Opal Telecom (part of the Carphone Warehouse Group) could be served out on 03xx numbers. These cost no more to call than "local" numbers.

It would be interesting to know how the majority of GPs, who fund their own telephone systems, feel about the position that the BMA is taking. Do they believe that some of their colleagues should be exempt from the requirement to provide NHS services without charging patients?

Some Consultation

26 Feb 09 12:02

Two points/comments to make:

First to NHS.Patient having a system from Surgery Line does not come within costs to the practice. Our bill for providing better telephone access for our patients is if anything slightly higher than it was under our old system. Without the rebate, we could not have afforded to upgrade. GPAQ survey results have improved greatly in the past two year (from 40+ points below national benchmark, to within 5 point of the benchmark).

Secondly, the consultation is thoroughly flawed. The questionnaire is weighted so the government gets the result it seeks and as a practice of over 11k patients, to receive 5 copies was a joke, especially when I tried to order more, the limit is 10 copies per order. In my opinion, those patients happy with the enhanced service and who accept the slight increase in call costs (the silent majority), will not go searching for a consultation booklet to make their thoughts known and the decision will be made because of the vocal minority.

Briefly in response

NHS.Patient@ntlworld.com

26 Feb 09 18:02

I support the provision of additional DH funding if this is necessary to enable practices to improve access. The DH was wrong to believe that this was unnecessary in 2005.

If patients wish to contribute towards the funding of a practice there should be opportunities to exploit the alleged willingness of a silent majority to make donations. Our NHS does not permit providers to impose charges for NHS services, as a point of principle.

Sauce for the goose ?

04 Mar 09 16:03

The hospitals locally use 0844 numbers, no-one seems to complain about that.... and can someone remind me of the of the phone number for NHS Direct?

never mind, you can always phone the Labour party to complain, their website says that the number is 0870 5900 200