IF "OUR NHS" IS TO SURVIVE, THE GP RIP-OFF TELEPHONE NUMBER SCAM MUST END

•	If the UK Government believes in the principles of the NHS it must prove this by acting to protect them NOW. Otherwise we cannot believe its alleged intentions for the future when it proposes changes that can only undermine their application.
•	My revised, extended and enhanced database lists 1,366 NHS GP surgeries in England, Scotland and Wales which benefit from subsidy at the expense of patients through use of 084 telephone numbers – a clear breach of the principle of “free at the point of need”. All data is from NHS sources.
	Visit http://tiny.cc/GP084 for links to detailed lists, summaries, league tables and MAPs.
•	084 numbers are invariably more expensive than “geographic rate” (01/02/03) numbers for most, if not all, NHS patients to call.
•	GPs can vary their arrangements to switch from 084 to 034 numbers at any point during their contract FOR TELEPHONE SERVICE.
•	Contracts for advanced surgery telephone systems including leases on equipment must be paid for in full by GPs. Our taxes provide them with NHS funding to meet their expenses in providing NHS services. That is how “our NHS” works - not through private arrangements made between patients and GPs.
•	English PCTs and Welsh Health Boards must enforce the contractual conditions already imposed on GPs. NHS Scotland must act.
•	The UK and National governments must drive and support this effort. If not, they will be seen to permit an abuse of the NHS to persist.

IF THE SCAM IS ALLOWED TO CONTINUE THIS WOULD PROVE THAT “OUR NHS” IS DEAD

At the same time, the respective managements of NHS England, Scotland and Wales must ensure that they (and their subsidiary bodies) also cease relying on the subsidy earned from use of 084 telephone numbers.

Where a non-geographic number has a benefit, e.g. for a national or regional service, the 034 equivalent must be immediately brought into use and offered, at least as an alternative - e.g.

NHS Direct England - 0345 4647

NHS Direct Wales - 0345 4647

NHS 24 Scotland - 0345 4 24 24 24

(As the cost of publicising a complete number change is perhaps prohibitive - these alternatives must simply be switched on immediately. This will take only a few days to arrange.)

Notes

1.	This message is distributed to the media, MPs, MSP and AMs, NHS Management in government, local NHS management.
2.	Detailed notes on avoidance of the provisions of the revised GMS contract are published in this blogging - Resistance to the ban on use of 084 numbers by NHS GPs.
3.	Recent comments on NHS Direct (and NHS 24) are found in - NHS Direct has caught up with mobile apps - but not mobile voice calls!
4.	Features of the database of GPs using 084 numbers include:
	•	Links to the website holding the data published by (or, in the case of Scotland, linked to) the commissioning NHS Organisation - on NHS Choices for England. Each item may thereby be verified at any point in time.
	•	A map - seen here for all of Great Britain. This may be zoomed and panned. Use View>Search from the map menu to select only particular NHS Organisations etc.
	•	A sortable (sic) and filterable (sic) version of the data list.
	•	A "Top 20" list of the NHS organisations with most work to do.
5.	I will be very happy to extract / prepare listings to cover a particular area. The data can be copied directly from a browser into a spreadsheet for local treatment, if desired.