Doctors to cut cost of phone calls

WHITSTABLE Medical Practice is looking to change its telephone system after Government calls to ban expensive 084 numbers.

Surgeries in Harbour Street, Whitstable, and Reeves Way, Chestfield, are tied into a seven-year contract after adopting the system - which allows its 32,000 patients to join a queue rather than hear an engaged tone - in 2006.

Calls to book appointments at either surgery can cost up to 40p per minute from mobile phones.

But practice manager Lesley King says they are looking for a way out.

"We are tied into a long contract but are trying to find a way out of it," she said.

"The telephone system was put in as a response to patient surveys and complaints about not being able to get through on the telephone at extremely busy times.

"Patients requested we had a system with queuing so they knew where they were in the queue and therefore whether to wait or ring off and call back later."

Lesley says the practice was assured calls would be charged at 4.2p per minute - equal to the standard BT rate

"You can imagine that with approximately 21,000 and 11,000 patients the surgery telephone lines will always be busy," she said.

"Mobile telephone calls do cost quite a bit more than land line telephones but we believe everyone who has a mobile telephone accepts this is the case.

"We still get people who firmly believe because it is the NHS that everything, including the call from their homes to the surgery, should be free.

"Since installing this system things have changed quite considerably with telephone providers offering free local calls and the ever-increasing patient demand.

"We believe, regardless of whatever telephone system we have in the surgery, we will still continue to get complaints because it is down to the sheer volume of calls.

"We have changed our working practices to ease this as much as possible and are at a loss as to what more we can do."