A DOCTOR'S surgery has come under attack for introducing a more expensive telephone number.

Coun Justin Tomlinson (Con, Abbey Meads) said he was horrified at the move by Abbey Meads Medical Centre.

He said he has been in touch with a number of residents who have complained they now pay more when they call to book appointments.

The surgery, in the village centre, uses an 0844 number, rather than a local number.

"I have been contacted by a number of residents regarding this issue," said Coun Tomlinson.

"I am horrified at this financial penalty being forced on those who wish to use the local NHS service.

"All too often additional stealth taxes and charges are creeping into a service which we already fund through ever-increasing taxes."

James Bickerstaffe, who has been a patient at the surgery since 1999, said people were not told of the change of telephone number.

"It has been the 0844 number for a while now, but I only found out about it when I rang to book an appointment and was told to ring the new telephone number," said the 32-year-old, of Abbey Meads.

"I hadn't thought much about it, until I had to call and make an appointment on October 3 and was kept on the phone for a long time."

The civil servant was calling from his mobile phone, so he contacted the billing company to find out how much he had been charged.

According to BT, calls to an 0844 number cost up to 5p a minute for their own customers, but can vary for mobiles and other operators.

And Mr Bickerstaffe said he was shocked when the mobile phone company told him the call, which had lasted about six minutes, cost £1.36.

"I think it is disgraceful that it costs so much to book a doctors' appointment," he said.

"There are other people like me who are at work so need to use their mobiles to book appointments and it is costing a lot. I just don't understand why they changed it to this non-geographical number.

"It is supposed to be a local service so why is it not a local number.

"And why were we not told that the number was changing and that we would be charged more?"

Currently three out of the 29 doctor practices in Swindon use 0844 numbers.

A spokeswoman for Swindon Primary Care Trust said that surgeries using an 0844 number can offer many service benefits to patients through the installation of an advanced telephone system.

"GP practices can choose which telephone system to install," she said.

"But all are aware that they are prohibited from using premium rate numbers, including 087 numbers, by the Department of Health."

Despite several attempts to contact the Abbey Meads Medical Practice, no one was available to comment.