NHS use of private numbers can cause missed referral appointments, which can lead to missed diagnosis of serious health problems with potentially fatal outcomes. Many mobile phone users turn on private number barring to avoid spam or unidentified callers.

Patients may not be aware missed calls from NHS referrals as they do not record as such. There may be many people missing appointments - being recorded as DNA - and being potentially exposed to further pain, distress and potentially fatal consequences because of a practice designed to protect the 'privacy' of a public health body. We believe the NHS needs to be transparent, it is funded by taxpayer money and should serve the people.