Patient left with £127 phone bill after hanging on the line for 49 minutes trying to make an appointment

Wayne Marshall, 30, was left fuming after spending nearly an hour on the phone to the outpatients' department of Broomfield Hospital.

But he was gobsmacked when he discovered the two calls had landed him with a bill of £127 for just trying to rearrange his appointment.

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Furious: Wayne Marshall was shocked to discover he had been charged with a £127 telephone bill after being put on hold while phoning a Broomfield hospital

Mr Marshall, who is unable to work because of the severity of his epileptic fits, was left waiting on the phone for 21 minutes after first calling the hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, on March 14.

He eventually got through on his second attempt the same day after a 29-minute call.

Mr Marshall, from Witham, Essex, said: "I eventually got through on the second call, explained that I needed to change my appointment time and that was it.

"But when I looked at my bill online I was absolutely flabbergasted. I would have thought it would have been no more than a few quid even with all the time I spent on hold."

Now Mr Marshall is worried other people may be stung by the cost without realising.

He said: "I have spoken to BT and they have told me that there is no mistake. This is especially bad for elderly people if they do not have an itemised bill as they may be in the dark about how much it is costing them to make thses calls."

The outraged patient was charged £2.59 per minute for his calls to the 0844 number. His first call cost him £55 and the second £72.

But a spokeswoman for the Mid Essex Hospitals Trust said the line should have been charged at a local rate of about five pence per minute. She said she could not understand why Mr Marshall had been landed with the huge charge.

She said: "We have been on the 0844 number for over a year and it is charged at a "lo-call" rate and that is the same from wherever you call in the country.

"If Mr Marshall wants this to be looked into, he can contact the trust and discuss it and perhaps BT should look into this as well.

"We have not had any other comments or complaints since it was introduced.

"It is not premium rate, it is just a non-geographic number. I have no idea why this has happened but if he wants to come to us, we will see what we can do.

"I don't know if it is down to us or the phone provider."