Sir,
I write to bring the hidden charges involved in contacting Tenby Group Practice by telephone to the attention of your readers
I consider myself a prudent spender when it comes to the household budget. I have carefully investigated the market and chosen a telephone provider who offers the best rates available. I monitor my bills, which is how I discovered the cost of telephone calls to the doctor.
My April invoice, for example showed that my line rental cost me £11, my unique package cost me £5, 23 international calls totalling six hours five minutes cost me nothing, 39 local/national calls totalling seven hours 23 minutes cost me nothing - but - a mere four calls to Opal Telecom 08444773187 (the surgery) totalling 15 minutes 21 seconds cost me £1.26.
We are all familiar with the protocol of booking an appointment by telephone. Try to ring at precisely 08.30, wait for a connection, listen to music, be informed of your place in the queue and - eventually - speak to a real person and hope that you will be able to see a doctor. All this at roughly 8p per minute.
Consider the average duration of each telephone call and the number of calls made each day. The next time you are in the waiting room, multiply the potential patients present by - say - 45p, and you may well come to the conclusion that the charges levied are not so much the actual cost of an administrative service as an additional and very irritating form of income.
Name and
address supplied.