Use Of 0844 Telephone Numbers In Gp Surgeries

EDM number 108 in 2007-08, proposed by Graham Stuart on 06/11/2007.
Categorised under the topics of Health services and Telecommunications.

That this House notes that more than 1,200 GP surgeries across the country have installed telephone systems using 0844 numbers; further notes that these systems are more expensive to use than a local call with patients being charged 5 pence per minute from a landline and up to 40 pence per minute from a mobile; further notes that for many people, calling their local GP surgery can be a stressful and worrying time and that high call charges will have a particular impact on the chronically ill, the old, the disabled and those on low incomes; notes that the practice of charging people extra to call their local GP is unsatisfactory; and calls upon the Secretary of State for Health to put an end to it with immediate effect.

This motion has been signed by a total of 72 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.