A single phone call to a hospital after an appointment was cancelled cost one man a whopping £7.92.

Geoffrey Crittenden, of Brishing Close, Maidstone, called an 0845 number run on behalf of Maidstone Hospital and later discovered the charge.

He said the figure doubled his usual monthly phone bill, which is usually around £6 a month, and the call only lasted 19 minutes.

The caretaker, who works at Sandling Primary School in Ashburnham Road, is hoping for changes to be made to the system.

He only dialled the number when he received a letter informing him a rheumatology appointment for a check-up on his joints had been cancelled.

He said: "I'm incensed by this issue. I was number eight on the waiting list to get through, it took ages, and one call doubled the lot for the month. It needs to be redressed."

The 59-year-old said the letter that arrived from the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust gave no warning of high costs.

He added: "It should always say when there are premium rates involved. It is totally out of order and I don't expect that from a hospital.

"What I'm worried about is older people phoning up – my mother couldn't afford it, so something needs to be done."

A statement from the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which has received complaints about phone prices in the past, said the charge seemed unusually high.

A spokesman added: "The 0845 number is provided through Virgin Media, at a rate of 3p a minute for people on the Virgin Media network nationwide.

"While this is comparable to a local rate call, the price may vary for other network users. The trust has started to phase out its use.

"All of our new appointment letters will shortly contain local 01622 numbers for patient inquiries, in line with NHS good practice to provide local rates for all local calls."

It stated the new numbers will be publicised on recorded messages and on its website.

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