TVs in hospital: £10 a day!

MarkBargain

My Grandad is in his 90s and was admitted to hospital recently. At home he mainly spends time watching TV so we went to set up the 'Patientline' TVs by his bedside, ready to pay a small fee.

The costs are extortionate: £10 for a 'bundle' including the Freeview channels for 24 hours! There was a cheaper £5 option, but that was only for 12 hours and only included 5 basic channels. There were bundles that worked out cheaper per day for longer periods, but we did not know how long he would be in hospital so didn't want to pay £25 quid-odd.

We would have reluctantly paid, but Granddad went up the wall when he heard the prices and refused to look at the TV at all. So, he is sitting in hospital bored outside visiting hours, unable to watch TV due to the greedy profit of the people providing these TV sets.

Surely it's not too much to ask for patients to have an LCD TV in hospital these days?! By the way, if you don't pay there is a video loop of Andrew Lansley and advertising for packages. The TV can be switched off, but many are on in the wards, using NHS electricity.

Abbafan1972

I remember these Patientline things from when I had my daughter 8 years ago.

I think my husband got me a £10 card and back then that lasted the whole time I was in hospital (about 3 days), as I didn't watch it that much and they switched the sets off about 7pm anyway.

I don't suppose there's a lot you can do about it. It's all about making money these days, along with the ridiculous hospital parking fees.

Everyone has been on about Prince Philip is probably watching the Jubilee celebrations from his hospital bed, but I bet he hasn't had to pay for it!

:mad:

MarkBargain

The cost has more than doubled in six years. I have just read an article about it: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/9569085.The_price_of_hospital_TV_is_making_us_sick/

£20 for three days, £25 for five days etc., yes, that's what I remember too.

Apparently the hospital "said it did not make any money from the charges and all profits went to the private entertainments company. " Does that make it okay then?! The company are making £2M profit a year apparently!!

mynameistallulah

MarkBargain wrote: »

Surely it's not too much to ask for patients to have an LCD TV in hospital these days?!

I agree the cost is very high, but on this point, I would object very strongly to the govt paying for a tv at every bed, or even every bay. You might notice that the NHS is very short of money and far more important services are being rationed.

With regard to your grandad, all you needed to do was buy a card and give it to his nurse - ask them to sort out the tv when he had calmed down a bit.

jb66

Hand in an iPad or a portable DVD player

MarkBargain

mynameistallulah wrote: »

I agree the cost is very high, but on this point, I would object very strongly to the govt paying for a tv at every bed, or even every bay. You might notice that the NHS is very short of money and far more important services are being rationed.

Perhaps the NHS would be slightly less short of money if it did buy TVs then the charges from patients could be put into patient care rather than skimmed off by a private company?! The NHS could then charge more reasonable amounts as part of a service. Prisioners get televisions so why not NHS patients?!

With regard to your grandad, all you needed to do was buy a card and give it to his nurse - ask them to sort out the tv when he had calmed down a bit.

You haven't met my grandad! A lot of old people value money a lot through years of having to save and just won't pay out (or let anyone else pay out) for something that is a rip-off.

arcon5

I doubt the NHS paid for them. I'm betting they was supplied by an external organisation and pay the hospital commission.

But the NHS could install TVs and charge a much better rate whilst still turning a profit on it. £10 per day is an absolute disgrace - at this price you could be an old portable for the price of a few days!

MarkBargain

jb66 wrote: »

Hand in an iPad or a portable DVD player

Many old peple can't work such devices, and I am not sure whether many are allowed into hospital.

zippybungle

Absolute rip off! :mad:

mynameistallulah

MarkBargain wrote: »

Perhaps the NHS would be slightly less short of money if it did buy TVs then the charges from patients could be put into patient care rather than skimmed off by a private company?! The NHS could then charge more reasonable amounts as part of a service. Prisioners get televisions so why not NHS patients?!



You haven't met my grandad! A lot of old people value money a lot through years of having to save and just won't pay out (or let anyone else pay out) for something that is a rip-off.

The costs of administering such a scheme (initial outlay, customer support, maintenance etc) would outweigh the benefits to the patient and the Trust - this was investigated when PL was first awarded the contract.

If grandad wants to be stubborn, I don't see what more you can do. When my grandmas were in we just activated the service for them, and the next time we went in they were happily watching their soaps!

MarkBargain

arcon5 wrote: »

I doubt the NHS paid for them. I'm betting they was supplied by an external organisation and pay the hospital commission.

But the NHS could install TVs and charge a much better rate whilst still turning a profit on it. £10 per day is an absolute disgrace - at this price you could be an old portable for the price of a few days!

Yes, you are right. At £10 a day it doesn't take many days to pay for a new LCD television!