South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray has written to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley MP calling on him to act over surgeries with non-geographic 0844 numbers.
Sheryll began her campaign against the use of these numbers over three years ago when she presented a paper to the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust in a bid to resolve the issue. Sheryll, who then worked for a local doctors surgery, heard the concerns of many patients first hand and was determined to act.
Sheryll explained, “The government undertook a consultation on the use of 0844 numbers in 2008 and 2009 which found that 86 percent of people said that the use of these numbers should be banned. Many thousands of people also signed a petition on the Downing Street website. The government listened and put in a deadline of 1st April 2011 to bring in these changes.
“Unfortunately many surgeries up and down the country have not made this change and I am now calling on the government to ensure that this decision is enforced for the benefit of patients.
“It is often much more expensive to ring these 0844 numbers especially when calling from a mobile. I am disappointed that these numbers are still in use.”
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For further information please contact Sheryll’s office on 01579 344428.