Patient Line is a disgusting disgrace Blog Discussion

Fran

readitonthenet_mustbetrue wrote:

....if you're too sick & the whole thought of it upsets you, dont use it.

I will be recommending people don't use it.

.... while there you have a choice. you either get better staring at the ceiling or you can watch patientline tv.

You can use your own mobile and TV in the two hospitals I have visited recently. I would strongly suggest that people in hospital spend their money in that way.

if you want it and can afford it, awesome,

Awesome? :rotfl:

.... if whole wards are using mobiles and their own tv's, why do i sit in a call centre night in night out with a constant flow of calls comprising of people buying credit or signing up to use patientline?

Hopefully now you have shown what type of sarcastic, acompassionate people work for the company you won't be doing that for much longer.

readitonthenet_mustbetrue

im not uncompassionate, im just realistic. i feel sorry for people who are sick just as much as the next person. what im saying is patientline isnt there as a necessary part of the healing process, its a service for customers who happen to be sick. do bear in mind, patientline tv is free in many renal (dialysis), oncology and cardiothoracic wards where people are often seriusly ill. it is also free in childrens wards.

you recommend away - and im sure you will - but im pretty sure most people who are taken into hospital would, given the choice, use patientline to occupy themselves whether recommended against it or not. especially with prices coming down and the equipment improving.

in may hospitals mobile phones are not allowed, but the patientline price (flat rate 10p/minute for outgoing calls) is competitive as a standard pay as you go service when compared to major mobile networks.

t-mobile - 12p/minute flat rate
o2 - 35p/minute peak, 10p/minute off peak
orange - 15p/minute

(these prices are as stated on their websites 08/03/07 as their standard pay as you go price plans for calls to landlines)

awe·some
–adjective
1. inspiring awe: an awesome sight.
2. showing or characterized by awe.
3. Slang. very impressive: That new white convertible is totally awesome.

Noctu

On the news today - Patientline are increasing outgoing calls (made from hospital) from 10p/min to 29p/min!!

My OH goes into hospital tomorrow - good timing eh?

bigjim86

Noctu wrote: »

On the news today - Patientline are increasing outgoing calls (made from hospital) from 10p/min to 29p/min!!

My OH goes into hospital tomorrow - good timing eh?

Not good publicity for Patientline here. It's 26p a minute outoing to landlines, but they have kept the incoming calls the same sadly. They have lowered the price of TV in most hospitals (with the T2 systems instead of the T1 systems) but they have done away with half price for over 65's. I think they are so desperate to make a big profit in the coming financial year (although as far as I'm aware when the accounts for the last financial year come out they will have made a small profit) that they are cutting costs everywhere. Hopefully if they do report a profit, the share prices will go up, the staff will get less grief and the prices to customers will go down.

Victor_Delta

If you want to make your feelings on the subject of hospital phone charges known to the government, then go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/hospitalphones/

V

System

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

What is this obsession with telephones and televisions in hospitals anyway??

When I was in hospital 10-years ago you spent your time getting to know the other patients and talking with each other. That was where your stimulation came from. Not festering in a bed watching This Morning.

I know what your saying but when i was in hospital 3 years ago i was the only 'young' person in a bay of 6. The rest of the women were of pensionable age. Not that i am discriminating against them, but if i had a pound for every time they asked me to do something for them i would have made some serious dosh. They tended to use me instead of buzzing for the nurse. I wouldnt mind but i had drains hanging out of my neck and iv's in my arms so i wasnt really up to much but once they could see i could get out of bed that was it they didnt leave me alone for a minute.

I was in no rush to leave hospital but during the one of the nights as i stired one old lady took the opportunity and asked me to cover her backside with a blanket as the blanket had slipped and she was cold i nearly flipped my lid. It was dark and as i wondered over i felt something wet under my feet. The bag that was collecting urine was full or had burst or something and there was wee all over the floor. At this point i buzzed the nurse. I should have done it sooner. As my my operation was a few days before a bank holiday i asked if i could go home early. I got more rest at home.

Give me a tele/radio (with headphones) and a bit of personal space any day.

billsavings

readitonthenet_mustbetrue wrote: »

in may hospitals mobile phones are not allowed, but the patientline price (flat rate 10p/minute for outgoing calls) is competitive as a standard pay as you go service when compared to major mobile networks.

t-mobile - 12p/minute flat rate
o2 - 35p/minute peak, 10p/minute off peak
orange - 15p/minute

(these prices are as stated on their websites 08/03/07 as their standard pay as you go price plans for calls to landlines)

Bang goes the competitive price argument now its being increased to a premium rate of 26p a minute.A 160% increase.:eek:

mikeyone

readitonthenet_mustbetrue wrote: »

you know, you're abolutely right. congratulations. you have now solved an age old problem with just about everything in the whole world. the service should be impeccable. what a comment. again, well done. go you.

no offence, but what kind of a thing to say is that!?! of course the service should be impeccable. you know what, there should be no war either. in fact, now that you mention it, all the religious hatred, crime & just general horribleness in the world, well that shoudnt be there. sorted.

now can we be realistic please, just for a second? thanks.

patientline genuinely does its best to please its customers. just like any other company. ok, so patientline's customers are sick, but as has been said a few times before, if you're too sick & the whole thought of it upsets you, dont use it. its a luxury, theres no questoning that, theres no argument to have there, its a simple matter of fact. patientline is a luxury.

hospitals are places sick peple go to get better. the nhs pays doctors, nurses etc. to make people better. you go, you take medicine or have surgery or whatever else is required, then fingers crossed you leave. while there you have a choice. you either get better staring at the ceiling or you can watch patientline tv. its up to you, but you know how much it costs. if you want it and can afford it, awesome, if not, fair enough. its not part of the healing process. its tv/internet/phone. ergo, you dont need it. you might just want it. if you do, pay for it and take it as it is. if not, dont damn well pay for it & you wont have to complain about it.

and a point, if whole wards are using mobiles and their own tv's, why do i sit in a call centre night in night out with a constant flow of calls comprising of people buying credit or signing up to use patientline?

I spent six months in Hospital in an isolation room as i had no immune system due to all the chemotherapy i had, the nurseing was fantastic, but when you are stuck in a room like that twenty four seven, you have got to have something to take your mind of things, unless your a tibetan monk of course, which im not although i did look like one when they'd finished with me, as all my hair fellout, but you need a tv to watch, iwas lucky pepole brought me cards in so i could watch it, but when your on the social and you've no money coming in its a rip off as i would have spent £40 per week just watching tv,so come off M8 they are ripping us off big time, even !!!!!! Turpin had the decency to wear a mask, the 6 months i was in there i could have bought a 42 inch plasma screen television,and as far as im concerned they ripping us off and you must be loaded, thats why you are not against them .:sad:

[Deleted User]

I agree that Patientline are providing a service that people don't have to use. But I wonder what the Office of Fair Trading would say?

The fact that the money put in to the TV just dwindles away whilst you sleep or go off the ward for treatment makes it a rip off. If that part alone could be curbed so that if a patient switched off the TV, the moneymeter stopped running then it would far better value for money.

My mum is currently in hospital. She is already registered disabled and is in her 70s. She has been told she will be in hospital for the next 2 months.

At home - her window on the world is her TV.

If Patientline can give kids free TV - why not the pensioners?

rhin0

i think patientline is pure profiteering.

once, my mother was ill in hospital, following a stroke and i arranged to subscribe to patientline for her. the next day, nothing was working. nor the next day and when i rang patientline helpdesk the cheeky operator cut me off saying that an emergency call had to be answered by him.(grrrrr) he promised that it would be connected the next day.

next day.....nothing was working. another phone call to the helpline by me, this time my tone was demanding. the nurses stared at me like i was ready for a padded cell. the operator promised a visit the next night for a supervisor to discuss the situation.

the next night a supervisor did turn up, advised me that the phone was working and gave me a £10 note to refund my initial voucher purchase. the phone worked and had £10 credit on it as well! next day, mother was discharged not having spent £1 on the phone. how do they expect ill people to deal with all this hassle? i guess they don't - hence more profit for patientline.

an elderly friend was in the same hospital. i phoned him three consecutive nights to get a recorded message saying that mr. xyz was not available and to leave a message. on the fourth night, i wondered... has he been discharged? i called his home number, to find out he left hospital four days ago. and still his name was on the recorded patientline phone number. rip off or what?