TVs in hospital: £10 a day!

arcon5

paddyrg wrote: »

1) core competencies - the NHS should be running health services, not replacing lost remote controls/dealing with TV's on the fritz. If they operated the scheme, the nurses would get the brunt of it, and they shouldn't have to.
2) cabling / freeview boxes / etc is a big job - you need many distribution amplifiers, box retuning when bored patients try to get the 10 mins of unencrypted mucky channels at midnight, etc.
3) Entitled oiks would complain about the NHS tellies, how they should be free, etc.
4) How would they collect/enforce the money? Collecting money costs money
5) Theft - a load of freeview tellies would be a theft magnet. Every scrote for miles would be in there trying to rob them.
6) £2M profit isn't a big deal when divided across the number of patient bed nights across the NHS - meaning clearly the overheads are high.

My 6 reasons why not to take it in-house. I think they are pretty good.

Sorry, but these are the poor reasons to outsource. Most of which have simple solutions.

Ellejmorgan

katejo wrote: »

I am surprised that you were able to make free calls to landlines. I had a short stay for an op in 2005. There were no free phone calls and the phone by the bed was extremely expensive, even for people who rang me. Fortunately i wasn't confined to bed so was able to go out to the payphone in the corridor. It wasn't a high tech ward so patients began to use their mobiles and the staff turned a blind eye to it.

The TV was very expensive too. Anyone who was due to have treatment/op the next day lost a large chunk of the day for which they had paid due to being under anaesthetic.

Yes you can make free calls to landlines, I was admitted in early Dec to have my baby by section, back in end Dec for infection, and again in Feb for back problems, all times I phoned home free...Not mobiles though just landlines...

sammyroser

I do think it is way too expensive. Maybe £10 for 24hours spread over say 1month. That way if your in and out of hospital you can keep the cost low.

This is why when I was last in hospital (planned visit anyway) I took my ds, a book, an archos to watch movies, my phone. I was too unwell to really use any of them but at least I had the option to do something if I was bored.

paddyrg

arcon5 wrote: »

Sorry, but these are the poor reasons to outsource. Most of which have simple solutions.

I disagree. If you think the NHS can do a long term better job and make money on it risk-free without hiding/disguising the costs in general ward-time, with NHS unionised workforce and electrical constraints, by all means run the numbers and put together a business case for your local NHS trust. As-is, the hospitals are getting at-bed TV, internet and radio services for free (or sometimes even with a royalty to the hospital I understand) with no capital expenditure or having to maintain tens of thousands of domestic-grade TV's and peripherals, nor install the technology required for them to work at all (ever tried rabbit-ears aerials on digital TV? Usually pretty terrible results especially in concrete indoors wards).

Is taking a risk with this where I want to see NHS money going? Into nurses trying to find replacement batteries in the middle of the night because some numpty wants to watch 24h roulette?

Now bear in mind I have no interest in these companies beyond the fact that they provide free radio and other services to tens of thousands of people a day. I just see no justification in the NHS running a non-core service that costs real money just for people to whine about it. Prove me wrong, cost it out by all means. I don't think I am.

dickydonkin

I'm sure that a tainted organisation like sky could improve its PR by providing hospitals a discounted service where they could also source a company to administer and maintain the scheme.

I do agree that the NHS should concentrate on their core services however.

I don't think many patients object in paying a reasonable fee to watch TV - but as with hospital parking fees, these extortionate tv fees are literally adding insult to injury!

Patientline are leeches.

arcon5

Sorry, but if a hospital (who by the way should have maintenance contracts already with a variety of firms, as well as care takers and like) cant install some televisions then my god we shouldn't allow them to perform operations or manage medication cabinets.

I fail to see how installing tvs can be a "risk".
And why nurses have to change battery's is beyond me, the care taker or maintenance man can do it. Consumables will be dealt with by the ops manager.

There are also costs and restraints to outsourcing this you know, legal and admin fees equally.

Mrs_Ryan

MarkBargain wrote: »

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

My 61 year old Mum bought herself an I-Pad when she went in for a knee replacement as she refused to pay the extortionate hospital TV costs

She had no problems and when I was in hospital recently I saw people with netbooks, laptops and mobile phones aplenty... there was even a Wi-Fi service provided so I'm guessing they're ok?

We had TV's but most of them didnt work and the mobile signal was carp (well it was on Orange anyway) I wouldnt have minded paying if I could have watched TV... by the third day I was in I begged to go home as I was that bored!

eilidh_s

You don't have to pay for TV in our local hospital. I have had a few years of elderly relatives ending up in the same hospital and not a single one of them, whether in a private room or a public ward, has ever been charged for TV. The one time I was in hospital, it was for a broken bone and it was all either A&E or outpatients so I never had the chance to watch TV. |I am in Scotland, don't know if that makes a difference.

antrobus

MarkBargain wrote: »

...Patientline out! The campaign starts here. :T

A bit late for that isn't it?

Patientline went bust in 2008. Well actually it went into administration and the business was bought out by Hospedia.

mazza111

Elvisia wrote: »

Can you even use ipads in the hospital, with perhaps a dongle? I have visions of logging onto the internet and it interfering with hospital equipment and someone's iron lung going offline or something.

Yes, nurses had no problem with my dd using her mobile as a modem and connecting her laptop/xbox through it. Guess it would depend on the hospital though, as I said dd was in a room that patientline hadn't got round to fitting out with a tv yet. But they had no worries about my dd watching movies etc on laptop. I know what i'll be doing anytime I'm admitted.