Medical Council launches 0800 freephone line

5 December 2002

Medical Council launches 0800 freephone line

The Medical Council is today (5th December) launching a freephone 0800 number as a further step towards increasing the Council’s accessibility to doctors and the public alike. Callers will be able to have greater access to advice on subjects such as how to access the website, obtain Certificates of Good Standing, registration information as well as the Council’s statements, guidelines and other publications.

This follows on from the launch of the online register of doctors and the first guide aimed primarily at patients in mid-September – the ‘You and Your Doctor’ guide. Both of these have proved popular both with the medical profession and the general public. The online register currently has 11,000 hits daily and over 1,300 copies of the ‘You and Your doctor’ guide have been requested thus far.

The freephone number was one of the recommendations as a result of the Medical Council’s work in the arena of sexual boundaries in the year 2000.

The new 0800 number, which will be trialled for the first three months, will work on a triage system. Calls will come through to a voicemail that directs callers through to the Council’s services. Callers can press zero at any time to speak to the receptionist. The freephone number is 0800 286 801. The Council’s current telephone number remains available (this is 04 384 7635).

Tony Baird, President of the Medical Council said: “The Medical Council anticipates a plethora of calls to the freephone line as awareness of its existence grows amongst the public and the medical profession. The Council has been working towards this launch for the past year and we will monitor the type of queries we receive, from whom and in what quantity very closely over the first three months’ trial period to ensure we are meeting public expectations and to further improve the service we offer.”

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