OT: NHS Telpehone Cost Petition

Poor wording. That would also prevent local health centres and hospitals from using 0800 'Freephone' numbers.

I don't know about health centres. They are independent contractors, but I guess they could include it in the tendering spec. Point of information: many GPs have got 0844 numbers because they were offered brand new telecoms kit my a company called SurgeryLine (or something) on the condition that the company got the revenue from the calls. Given that GPs seem to earn at least 100k I doubt they throught that a phone call costing 5p or whatever would be a big issue.

No, he said 08 numbers *such as* 0844, 0845, 0870. One interpretation may be that he means exclusively numbers beginning 0844, 0845, and

0870, but on any account the *intent* is clear: that health care providers will not use fee-charging non-geographic numbers.

On the contrary, the wording "such as" is most commonly used as a non-exclusive sample of the set. For example, were I to say:

The alphabet contains letters, such as D, F, and G.

you wouldn't think I meant that the alphabet *only* consisted of the letters D, F, and G.

If the wording was meant in an exclusive manner then it didn't need to say "numbers starting 08" at all - just "0844, 0845, 0870." The inclusion of those numbers after the phrase "such as" indicates that there are /other/ numbers included in the set of "numbers starting 08" that are not indicated in the sentence.

As I said - poorly worded.

But what if I said "car registration plates shall not contain numbers such as 0, 1, or 5". What if, furthermore, there was currently a political campaign at the root of which was the confusion caused by the confusion of numbers with similar-looking letters.

I submit it would be clear to any ordinary person that the meaning of my sentence was not "registrations shall contain no numbers", nor "registrations can contain numbers, but they must not be displayed on the plates", but that it meant "numbers which look similar to letters, such as 0, 1, and 5, shall not be used in any car registration".

The fact that you immediately recognised the apparent room for misunderstanding, without actually misunderstanding yourself, and without any evidence of any other person misunderstanding, suggests that, in fact, the meaning was conveyed in a perfectly acceptable way.

The wording can always be clearer, but here the meaning cannot.

Why?

Also, count yourself lucky you're not using specialist mental health services accessed by pager numbers, which cost very much more than 0845.

If you have to ask "why?" - then you will may understand the explanation.

(As a starter - why should people phoning health centres/doctors/hospitals etc have to pay a premium - some of which goes the dialled party?)

What is wrong with 01,02, or 03?

01, 02 and 03 can be more expensive than 0845.

Colin Bignell

Not on any tariff I've seen.

I would support this, because they cost a lot more than 01/02/03 numbers from most mobiles.

Not as far as my package is concerned.

Myself and many others now have unlimited calls to 01, 02, and 03. This is the case from my mobile (xxx free calls to geographic numbers each month ) and also from my landline at all times. Most 08 calls cost me an arm and a leg.

It is also appalling how many people think that an 0845 is a nice cheap "local call" - purely because they are encouraged to believe this by providers. They don't realise that the recipient also gets a cut. (often? or always? - I am not sure)

I think that that was part of the reason for the introduction of 03 - to try and make the costs of such calls more transparent.

I often use this site:

to find landline equivalents (although I see your petition is already in there). But I agree this shouldn't have to be necessary. And there's no reason why non-geographical numbers can't also have a 01/02/03 format.

I don't on my 0845 number.

Colin Bignell

OFCOM introduced the 03 number range as an alternative to 0870, 0845 numbers. The 03 number range can be used to provide the same facilities as the 0870 and 0845 numbers. The announcement was in Feb

2007.

See

It appears that telecoms ignorance is rife in state controlled organistaions.

You obv are. Doesn't your benefits cover it?

Hey look, my very own semi-literate stalker. Attempting to use mental health problems as an insult is weak when I'm open about my mental health.

You assume that everyone using, for example, a crisis line is "on benefits" which is not the case. They might not be at work for a couple of weeks, but that could be covered by employers sick pay or SSP.

These people may telephone the service a couple of times a day, for a couple of weeks. That cost soon adds up.

I had no idea about your mental heath. But now it makes sense. Bipolar no doubt, its the flavour of the month.

I don't want to know your life story. You hang out in u.l.s.d or whatever by the sounds.

Can you expand please; and if you don't get a cut - why not change it to an 03 number for the benefit of your customers?

I'M ONLY IN IT FOR THE PARKING.

This isn't my life story. I'm correcting (yet another one of) your errors.

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