More than 1,000 practices use the pricy 0845 numbers, which provide extra functions such as queuing for unanswered calls.

Practices have been under growing pressure to drop the lines, which cost patients up to 5.8p a minute to phone.

The decision to scrap the charges will mean that, from Friday 16 January, patients will be able to phone around 300 practices that use 0845 numbers for free.

The larger number of Read more »