Please add your comments below, as to what you think this call …
a) should have cost; and
b) what it might have cost.
More information will follow.
Click on the play button above, or download the audio file, to hear a recording of a complete telephone call.
Please add your comments below, as to what you think this call … a) should have cost; and b) what it might have cost. More information will follow.
1 Comment
No, campaigners have not all been off on their Summer Holidays. Quite the reverse; the events that are happening and the work being done has caused a temporary pause in the updating of the News Feed. We see this as a valuable record to be preserved, so all will be brought up to date.
Some recent happenings have now been recorded and there are many more waiting to be added. This will create a surge in the daily email notifications that can be obtained at this link. Twitter followers of @DH_fairtelecoms will see this too. The feed viewer will soon be updated to allow selective viewing by topic / date range etc. as it currently only shows all the most recent items. This is a very exciting time for the campaign with developments on many fronts and public awareness and interest increasing. Any offers of help with the coordination of campaigning efforts would be most welcome.
It has been reported, and confirmed, that some Surgery Line users are extending call durations (by a few seconds) by including a call cost information message on 0844 numbers. The message (listen below) suggests that the pence per minute rate charged by BT before 4 January 2011 is 'typical' and offers no other specific information. This seems to do nothing more than confirm Daisy's view that 0844 numbers are unsuitable for use by NHS surgeries. Only those BT landline users who breach the terms of their chosen Call Plan pay for calls to geographic rate numbers, so any call charge and setup fee makes the call more expensive. Whether it is 5p, 0.5p or £5 per minute makes no significant difference.
See below (left) the latest item of coverage by a local BBC TV news programme.
As the presenter of another similar item cast doubt over the claim that this was an “exclusive” story, we thought it might be interesting to put together a playlist of the 13 items that we have been involved with - from September 2007. (See below right). Not all items include familiar faces; contributions by ‘campaigners’ are often made without appearance or named acknowledgement. Following the BBC Look North (North East and Cumbria) coverage of a GP practice continuing to use a 0844 number, the practice has responded with a statement on its website. As this includes the invitation, “Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns” we have responded with an open message (see below). We hope that media interest will stimulate similar debate with every other similar, committed and concerned, practice in the same position - our arguments will remain essentially unchanged.
Following our announcement of the debate and the issuing of a briefing in this blog posting, the debate took place and the proceedings are recorded here.
At 11 am on Wednesday 26 June, RIchard Burden MP will introduce a debate entitled “Cost of non-geographic telephone numbers used by Government” in the Westminster Hall chamber.
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