When a patient calls their doctor, they have no reason to expect the call to be at a higher rate than any other call they make, so the revelation that a number of surgeries in the district use 0844 numbers, which can charge up to 41p a minute, will come as something of a shock to many people.

Despite instructions from the Department of Health that no one should have to pay more than a standard geographic call charge to talk to their practice, 14 per cent still use these potentially high-rate lines.

Some surgeries argue that they are locked into contracts with providers, and have to complete the term before stopping using the lines, but as Councillor Mike Gibbons says in our report today, they must have been aware that the calls would be expensive for patients when they signed up for it in the first place.

While it may not seem huge sums on the face of it, and the rate does vary, it undoubtedly impacts most on those who most need to control their spending.

Many people, particularly those on low incomes, use mobile phones with a set payment tariff for all calls; however, if they have had to call an 0844 number, they will get an unpleasant shock when their bill arrives, as these are not generally included on tariffs.

That means that careful budgeting on limited finances can be completely blown out of the water.

Those surgeries still using these numbers must look at ways of ending their contracts as quickly as possible.

And the Department of Health must put very clear guidelines in place to stop speculative private companies looking at other ways of exploiting doctor’s surgeries to make money by putting additional costs onto the patient.