The use of premium phone rates for people contacting the NHS in England is to be banned, the government has said.
It comes after 3,000 people responded to a public consultation about the use of 084 numbers in the NHS, and 90% said calls should be charged at local rates.
The 084 numbers will not be banned but calls to hospitals or GP surgeries must cost no more than a standard call. Doctors’ leaders welcomed the change, saying patients should not be penalised because they are ill.
However, the ban would not apply to the cost of making phone calls from hospital beds, an NHS spokesperson said.
Read more at BBC Health.
Tags: Charges
