We have some sad news. Our friend Ann Trigg of Dartford passed away last month.

Ann was very active in her local community and loved helping others. She was part of a number of community groups, including the residents association and the neighbourhood watch. She helped disabled and elderly residents in many ways such as by getting their shopping. Ann had a passion for classic cars and she organised rallies in order to bring together like-minded people.

She also devoted much time to unfair telecoms matters. Ann engaged with GPs, patient transport services and retailers on their choice of telephone numbers.

She wrote twice to every English local authority with a 0845 number and carried out much painstaking research to form a list of authorities whose council tax payment lines used 084 numbers.

Among her successes was getting her local council to change its phone number. There was also the alarm company whose devices were running up big phone bills for users due to the type of number they were set to dial. Thanks to her work the company embarked on changing the number these units dial, resulting in a big logistical task reprogramming every last one all over the country.

We and everyone else are forever indebted for all Ann’s efforts.

Thank you Ann and rest in peace.

Noting the further price rise announcement from BT today, we offer a briefing and comment on a rip-off that has long been in place and will now have a greater impact.

According to figures from the DWP, there could be around 5 million of its claimants, mostly pensioners, who are already paying too much to BT for their telephone calls to ordinary numbers.

It is our strong view that the firm stand taken by NHS England on the question of delayed compliance with the contractual terms covering use of 084 telephone numbers should prevent practices drifting into a fifth year of non-compliance with requirements that came into effect on 1 April 2010.

The necessary change of telephone number takes only a few weeks to arrange, however a total of 1 year's grace was granted, so that practices could perhaps make more extensive changes to their arrangements.

In summary, we are pleased to see many of our comments, as presented in evidence, noted in the report. We welcome the limited recommendations, but are concerned that they do not include the radical steps required to get to grips with this unacceptable and growing problem.

This week marked the conclusion of efforts working with NHS England to produce letters to Area Teams and to practices in breach of their contracts with a demand for action -
“Your Area Team will be in touch to understand your plans for swiftly moving away from the use of 084 numbers” is the conclusion of the message to practices.
Both the formal letter and the NHS England news release acknowledge the assistance provided by the fair telecoms campaign, especially with the busting of myths that have long been used to avoid the need for “reasonable steps” to be taken and to excuse improper action.
The news feed covers all publications, but the following are the key items for attention:
(click on the image to view)

The actual letter from the two NHS England Directors to practices using 084 numbers. This document is a copy extracted from the full set of communications linked to from the NHS England media release.

Our invitation and encouragement to affected patients and NHS supporters to print out a copy of the letter in support of their challenge to a non-compliant GP.

A message to the Heads of Primary Care in the Area Teams in support of their efforts and listing one example of a GP in each area, to be used in monitoring their achievements.

A news release has been issued to draw attention to a story in the Sunday Post - with an additional story and comment, and an article from the Kirkintilloch Herald.
Some of our commentary follows.

In response to the BT price change announcements to take effect from 4 January 2014, which will shortly be circulated to customers,we address four elements of these changes:

• Introduction of a charge for the “BT Privacy at Home” service
• Introduction of a charge for the “BT Answer 1571” service
• A 5.6% increase to the charge for the “Choose to Refuse” service
• A 5.4% increase to the charge for the “Anonymous Caller Reject” service

Statement on the general issue of ‘Nuisance Calls’
Whilst the fair telecoms campaign recognises the important role that individual remedies and mitigation measures play, it considers the issue of Nuisance Calls, made over the public telephone network, to be a public matter. The ICO and Ofcom have a part to play in addressing this, through enforcement of the terms of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and use of the Persistent Misuse powers. It has however been proved that these bodies, even with some adjustment to the respective regulations and policies, will never be in a position to have any serious impact on the issue. Existing sectoral regulators do however have the necessary, and more appropriate, powers to control the activity that causes nuisance to be experienced, either directly or indirectly. We believe that those who seek to truly understand the situation, and wish for a serious improvement, must cease dealing with relatively trivial points that are accepted and turn their attention towards what is necessary to address the issue in an effective manner.