Phoning people in Hospital

Bun

I can see both arguments. Last week I was hospitalised for my first time for four days out of the blue. Most of my stay was in AAU.

In regards to the phone, I found it invaluable that I was able to send out the bedside number free to a number of relatives straight off. Yes it is expensive to call in, and cheaper to call out. I got round this by callers calling and me calling them back. This was easier for me, but older patients in my ward would probably have found this more difficult. Maybe cheaper incoming and more expensive outgoing charges would be fairer? Although I had a mobile with me, I would have gone insane, as I'm sure the staff would have done, if patients took mobile calls 24/7 with ringtones etc.It's bad enough on trains and buses. Everybody seems happy to pay mobile charges from hospital, and you do have more control over the pricing, but at some times of day to other networks there must be little difference anyway.If I call from home the calls are not free/subsidised, why should they all be in hospital?

I also found the tv very useful, particularly late at night. However, I chose to pay for this service. It provides digital channels. I have these at home and do not get them free there. Why should I get them free at hospital? The service does offer free sessions after you have done 12 bookings, has a reduction for over 65s, and says it is free for under 16s, which sounds reasonable. The radio is free at all times, and I have to say, quite a good range of stations. Very good for drowning noise out at night.

At the end of the day, these services made my stay more bearable, but were in no way essential. Relatives could call in on the main number and I was also allowed to call out free of charge from A and E to say I was staying in.
It is not as if you are stranded if you do not use this service.

I absolutely disagree that any part of these costs should be incorporated in the hospital costs as this is an optional service. Quite frankly the staff deserve higher salaries/extra staff,I can't believe how hard they work. Parking charges though, are a different matter, as often there is no other option, so I think that any funds that may be earmarked for other services should go towards this.

Scarlet_Fever

Savvy_Sue wrote:

And that's £3.50 per day, so even if you don't normally watch a lot of telly but have a few things you want to catch, you can't ration your viewing in any sensible way.

and you only get basic tv - not even sky (and t hey dont charge that much £3.50 * 30 = £105 per month)

and if you dont know if you are getting out or not in the morning (had premie baby last july and hoped each day to be going home) you end up sitting there bored as 'whatnot' grrr

Musique

This post shows how expectations on the standard of care we recieve from the NHS have risen considerable over recent years. In previous times of huge waiting lists and poor quality buildings we would have just been happy getting treated but now we want additional services which, if we don't pay for them ourselves the cash will probably be found by cutting a clinical service or taking it away from nurses and doctors which nobody wants to see happen.

IMHO I think that this is a luxury and, as much as I hate seeing a company make a profit off the back of a public service, it is probably the only way some of these "luxuries" can be paid for. As a tax payer I'm happy to pay high taxes for excellent healthcare, free at the point of delivery, but not for TV and phone services for patients.

As an observation, like mobile phones on flights, the reason used to be phones were banned as they could interfere with electrical quipment but as technology has developed research has shown they do not interfer. In hospitals there is a possibility they interfer with intesive care type equipment but not with the equipment you would see on general wards. The real reason is that if you allowed mobiles phones to be on, lots of patients wouldn't get the rest they need to recover.

Lady_K

I don't think they have tv rooms though now do they where anyone can go if they are able to get there?

Apparently when you first get in hospital there is a way you can give the numbers of any friends or relatives. Then patientline sends them a phone message. My daughter had some of these automated messages and she had to pay to recieve them. We couldn't believe the cost of them. She couldn't understand the messages either so she had to call back the number which was about the only thing that was clear. She had to call on a mobile as she had no other phone at Uni and was worried who it was.

I wouldnt give anyones number out in the first place unless I absolutely had no other choice. But if it was that serious my family would be informed anyway. Its the fact that a lot of wards are taking away the pay phone alternative leaving patients less alternative

cattie

Oh there must be something wrong with me then, for when I've been in hospital the last thing I've been interested in is watching television & having phone conversations with people. The main reason being I'm there because I'm ill.

What I've found really annoying & intrusive is the people in the surrounding beds constantly having loud conversations on their phones & the odd person here & there who always puts the radio or tv on without using the headphones. You then have to hope that a nurse will soon become aware of this & go tick them off & tell them to put on the headset. Sadly the hospital ward is no fit place for people with fragile health any longer due to all this new bedside technology. :sad:

Paul_the_Painter

I'm noy trying to be defensive over Paitentline (and remember when wards had a TV for all paitients to watch, no choice over what you watch and tele off in the evening?) but it should be noted that Paitentline do not make a profit, they were set up to do so, but the business is not working terribly well. There has been a bit in the business pages about it recently, but it is subject to a bit of shareholder action, and the top man seems not long for his job.

They may be charging ridiculous amounts of money for phonecalls and TV, but they still can't make money