Patient Line is a disgusting disgrace Blog Discussion

MarkyMarkD

Because Patientline are meant to clean the phones/TVs/etc between patients to avoid risk of MRSA and other infections.

Hospitals could have installed "ordinary" telephone systems, but they would cost money to install and maintain and money to provide more switchboard staff (or DDI). Instead, they chose to outsource the provision and Patientline got the contract.

madauri

So does Patientline send staff around checking what phones are not being used by a determined patient anymore to clean them before somebody else uses them?
And I don't see why you should need more staff with normal phones instead of the ones hooked to the service. Actually, I have not seen those Patientline phones yet either. Are they different from the others?

paramonkey

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=261

from what i can make of this, unless you are on an critical care/intensive care ward or someone is being resuscitated in the bay next to you then you should be able to use a mobile phone safely without fear of causing interference with medical equipment. However hospitals just blanket ban them, but i have rarely if ever seen it enforcedl but i wouldnt like to be a sitting target using a mobile phone on a ward with a sister or modern matron around...

Pip Pip

Michael
Student Health Care Professional.

After submitting post, had a thought: if hospitals had wireless access points the you could take a laptop in and use VOIP for pennies if that!

nearlyrich

My mum was in hospital last week, the patientline terminal was really annoying flashing ads etc, we turned it off as she couldn't use it but someone kept turning it back on. There are people employed to go around encouraging people to use them, if he was meant to clean them between use he didn't do much of that when I watched him.

back_to_earth

There has been lots of research into mobiles in hospitals - go to Google and type in "mobiles" and "hospitals" and you'll find some good stuff from the Department of Health and British Medical Association. Also, some of this research showing little harm from mobiles on equipment goes back many years. However, you still cant take your own mains-powered electrical goods in unless they are first checked by the hospital electrician (several days usually) so charging ya phone would be another problem area!

Sciency

The Medicines Health Care Agency has assessed the likelihood of Mobile Phones interfering with medical equipment and suggested that there were certain areas where mobile phone use was not appropriate:
Areas of restriction are down to the individual hospital/trust but we recommend that mobile phones are not used in critical care areas such as intensive therapy units (ITU), special care baby units (SCBU) or where patients are attached to complex devices, as any effect on such equipment could be extremely detrimental to patient care.
This why there is such confusion as to when it is appropriate to use a mobile as it is not the total ban that there once was. What is difficult is working out if the machine that goes ping in the corner is a complex device or not! Presumably, the staff/hospital trust should be able to advise whether such devices are being used on your family member's ward and whether a mobile can therefore be used.

pickle

Aaaaant wrote:

While I sympathise, I don't actually think that's Patientline's fault. You would have found it a lot harder for someone overseas to get in touch with you ten years ago when there was no Patientline.

Just like before Patientline there are still payphones in all corridors you can use. It's actually cheaper at 10p a minute to ring someone from Patientline than a payphone (20p) - although you do have to spend at least £2.50 on a card.

The point is is that Patientline brings benefits and an added luxury that wasn't there before. The communal tvs and payphones on wards and corrdiors still exist just like before Patientline. So if you don't like Patientline just shove it aside!

I would add that the public phone wasn't working so there wasn't any choice for me. Nor may I add were any of the patientline card issuing machines (and I tried on each of the floors). Luckily I had a creditcard and was able to get local calls established. But if you didn't have a creditcard you would have been cut off entirely. There wasn't any communal tv on the ward that I saw (and I looked for one).

nickroyle

Funny thing about not being allowed to use a mobile in a hospital - all the doctors are using them! The other thing about the patientline equipment is the associated televisions - it seems to be impossible to turn them off. Anyone with kids in hospital, you'll know why this is a problem.

londongirl32

Hi all,
just a quick note to let you know that 09115013030 and 09115014040 don't work with patientline. Sorry.
Nikki

Steven1153

had your mum called the operator before she left the bed then that would never have happened - Patientline asks each patient to call before leaving so we can switch the unit off and switch on a voicemail message to the effect of "This patient has been discharged from the hospital". Your sister must've overlooked this necessary piece of information from the operator upon registering...