Following a strong negative reaction to the NHS providing the public with 08 contact numbers, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has broke this trend.

Many hospital departments, as well as GP surgeries are now offering the public 0844 or 0845 numbers for areas such as appointment lines, advice lines and to check test results.

08Direct has long since been a strong supporter of 03 numbers, backed up by our launch of 03NumberShop earlier this year. Gloucestershire NHS Trust have become one of the first adopters of 03 numbers across the NHS and should significantly raise their profile.

The result of them changing their contact numbers to 03 will mean instant cheaper call rates across the board. Calling an 03 number costs the same as calling an geographic 01 or 02 number, regardless of whether the call is from a landline or mobile. This means that essentially the call is free to mobiles that are connected to a monthly bundle of minutes. The calls are just deducted from the bundle.

As such there are currently many high profile charities who use 03 number as donations lines. This includes Children in Need, Sport Relief and Give Blood. We have also set up an 03 number for Dreams & Wishes, the charity our Chief Executive (Mahmood Mazhar) works for as an ambassador.

David Warden, IT and Governance Manager for Gloucester NHS Trust, lead the phone number changeover: “As health partners in Gloucestershire, we are very pleased to be able to introduce the 0300 number which will bring down the cost of calls to benefit patients, their families and carers.”