Bogus Phone Calls - Information

We have been made aware of several incidents throughout the UK of patients being contacted by phone by a person who states they are from a drug company.

They give the impression they are ringing with the knowledge of the hospital on behalf of a drug company in relation to the patient’s warfarin. The caller phoned the patient at home and knew some personal information (NHS number, date of birth, ALL of their medications) and then proceeded to tell him he should stop Warfarin.

He was told to go onto a new medication which their company produced and asked for their credit card details.

Luckily in this instance the patient questioned the caller who at this point got very cagey and hung up. At this point we do not have anymore information.

The targeted patient groups appears to be the elderly with high pressure being put on them to release credit/debit card details which then result in large cash amounts (£300-£500) being taken for the products supplied.

In some cases the caller states they are from the Health and Wellbeing Centre or the Health Centre which may confuse an elderly patient into thinking that the call is from the Surgery. Should you wish to follow one of the blogs looked at then please follow the link below.

We WILL NOT ring any patient requesting detailed medical information or requesting money to be paid by debit or credit card.

IF YOU ARE AT ALL SUSPICIOUS ASK THE CALLER THEIR NAME AND RING THE SURGERY BACK.