http://www.leicestercitypct.nhs.uk/paper_f_gp_practice_numbers-doc.cmsdocLEICESTER CITY PRIMARY CARE TRUST
BOARD MEETING
28 August 2008
GP Practice 084 Phone Numbers
Background
1. In response to feedback from patients at the October 2007 Board meeting, the PCT committed to undertake a review of GP practices with non-geographic phone numbers to develop a better understanding of the local issues and to identify if there are any actions that the PCT can take to address these.
2. In March 2008, the Board received an interim report on the issues emerging from the Review. This paper builds on the material presented in the interim report. It does not seek to duplicate the information already provided but sets out a final analysis of the scale of the issue together with an appraisal of the options available to the PCT.
What is the issue?
3. Depending on the type of line and phone package that patients call on, the cost of calling a GP practice on non-geographic number can vary significantly. There are significant variations in the cost of calling 084 numbers from mobiles lines as well as some fixed lines call packages with the patient very much in the hands of his or her service provider.
4. To illustrate the difference, for a patient with a BT residential landline on a standard contract the cost of a daytime call to a 084 number is 5 pence per minute (inc. VAT). In comparison, the cost of a call to a 084 number from a Vodafone pay as you go mobile is 35 pence per minute. This means a ten minute call to a 084 number from a BT landline would cost 50p whereas the same ten minute call from the mobile provider described would be £3.50.
5. In addition, significant numbers of patients will be on low cost call packages, either with BT or other providers, which may include free daytime calls but will exclude 084 numbers.
How many people may be affected?
6. Quantifying the number of patients across the City who may be paying more than the cost of a local call to phone their GP practice is not straight forward, not least because the telecoms market is both extremely competitive and in certain sectors dynamic. However, it is possible to estimate the broad range by using a series of assumptions.
7. First, we know how many GP practices in the City have 084 telephone numbers - 25 out of a total of 63. These practices are contracted to three service providers – NEG Telecom Ltd (Surgery Line), NTL and Ecocall.
8. Second, we know how many patients are registered with these 25 GP practices - 178,010 as at 1 July 2008. Set against the PCTs total registered population on the same date of 350,726, this equates to 51% of the city’s registered patient population.
9. Using these data we can then apply a series of assumptions to form a view of the broad order of patients who may be affected:
• We know from recent local analysis of actual GP practice call logging that around 6% of incoming calls to GP practices are made from mobile phones. This would equate to around 11,000 of the 178,010 patients registered with the 25 GP practices that have 084 phone numbers
• Alternatively, we know from a recent Eurobarometer survey undertaken for the European Commission that around 15% of UK households are ‘mobile-only’. That is, they have mobile but no fixed telephone access. This would equate to around 27,000 of the 178,010 patients registered with the 25 GP practices that have 084 phone numbers
• However, we also know that this is not just an issue for mobile phone callers – certain low cost telephone packages exclude calls to non-geographic numbers. The Eurobarometer survey found that 30% of UK households buy two or more communication services as part of a bundle from the same provider at a single price. These packages can include television, fixed telephony, mobile telephony and/or internet access, with a combination of fixed telephony and internet access being the most popular package. This would equate to around 53,000 of the 178,010 patients registered with the 25 GP practices that have 084 phone numbers.
10. Although fairly crude, the above analysis suggests that somewhere in the range of 6-30% (11-53,000) of the 178,010 patients registered with GP practices with 084 phone numbers may potentially pay more than the cost of a local rate call to phone their GP practice because of the telephone package that they are on.
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