GP Surgeries: Telephone Numbers

Part of Committee Business – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 11:00 am on 29 May 2012.

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Photo of Ross Hussey Ross Hussey UUP 11:00, 29 May 2012

I apologise to the proposer and to other Members for my late arrival. Unfortunately, I was on the phone, but not to an 0844 number.

When I saw the motion on the Order Paper, I felt that I had to come down and get involved. Many people have referred to the fact that it applies to only 23 out of 355 GP clinics. The use of 0844 numbers in GP clinics may have come as a surprise to some in this House, but it is no surprise to me in Omagh. My GP’s telephone number is 08444773513; the sort of number that rolls off the tongue. If you are an elderly person, will that number resonate with you and will you remember it always? You will not; it is far too long and too complicated.

The number is used whenever you contact the health centre, and when you do so, you contact it immediately; it is not engaged, that is quite true. You get to choose an option, 1, 2, 3 or 4; you will then get other options, and you will eventually get through to sort out whatever you need to do. If you are using a mobile phone, the cost is excessive. I have to use the mobile phone to sort out prescriptions and various things for my mother, so I know the cost. Many sitting around will say; “you can well afford that”. Maybe I can, but there are many who use their mobile phone who cannot afford it, and a lot of people have a mobile phone as their only source of contact.

You can also use the internet to contact your health centre. Again, that is a wonderful system, but how many older people can use the internet, have access to it or understand it? A lot of older people depend on their families to make the calls for them. We have to have a situation in which health centres must use a local number. Most people will remember a local number, and I think that the time has come to do away with 0844 numbers for good. The cost of using them is excessive and they do not work. Older people do not remember the numbers, and we have talked about this issue for too long. Maybe I am being charged too much for the call, I do not know, but I think the time has come for 0844 numbers to disappear.