Rip Off hospital phone

misshornet600

my father in law is in hospital in a side ward as he has mrsa and has just had a big operation - his tv is £10 for 5 days - ouch in itself but the phone is the biggest thing - its 49p a min to call - he can call from the phone at 10p a min - recently reduced from a whopping 28p a min, but we have to get to him to top up the phone cards, and he is not really well enough to see to dial the numbers himself, anyone know of a re-dial service to skirt around the 49p charge these companies make the number starts with 07040 as he is in for a month minimum im really worried that his wife will end up in debt herself just by trying to keep in contact with him.

thank you

hm71_2

recently had the same prob with my husband, what annoyed me equally was £3.50 per day to watch tv!!! nothing else to do as he was flat on his back. we had his laptop checked in the end which he has a freeview adaptor on in the end, but no way round the calls we could find.

Counting_Pennies_2

You might just want to check the policy of mobile phones.

I was in hospital last month, giving birth to my daughter and was in for 5 days. There are signs up saying don't have mobiles turned on, but when talking to the staff it is because of the ring tones. As long as we turned our phones to silent we were allowed to use them, so I just used the complimentary credit I got on my phone for purchasing the 5 day package on Patientline and the rest was on my mobile, which of course is so much cheaper.

blaise802001

Don't know much about getting round the patient line thing, but I do agree about the silent thing. Our friend was in hospital last week and he was told that he could use his phone if it was on silent too.

Fran

A lot of people have found this:

Patientline is a disgusting disgrace.

inkie

I have worked in operating theatres and seen consultants having mobile phones held up to their faces for them to talk on whilst they have been operating, obviously in close proximity to patient monitoring devices/ventilators etc.

[Deleted User]

My OH works in A&E - the only reason they have a policy to have patients turn off their phones is to minimise noise and disruption.

I know I would never, ever, ever use Patientline - I've got a mobile and I doubt they'd ever stop you using it (mainly because all the medical staff will use theirs)

misshornet600

thanks for the suggestions, we have taken in a tesco pay as you go phone, ive stuck £15 credit on it to get the cheapest rate of calls, and he is keeping it on silent and only using it to call his wife in the evenings, i did look at one of those dialing services that you pay up front for to get my mother in law to use, but her phone is with virgin, and i could not work out the charges, still i have told them the £15 credit should last a while, if he uses it to call her at home just for a quick chat in the evening.

thanks for your good wishes - you just dont expect to have to pay all the way on the NHS - car park £2.70 as well !!

Claire_Jones_3

When I was in hospital giving birth last month I used my credit card to put credit on the patient line for tv for one day but the minimum amount is £5 andsupposedly whatever you don't use they will refund. I was charged straight away and the reund is still not showing on my credit card!! What a rip off!!!

Savvy_Sue

Two years ago I was told that if I wanted to use my mobile, I'd have to go off the ward and outside the building.

That was too far to walk at the time ...

But my dad's always been able to use his.

Counting_Pennies_2

Claire_Jones wrote: »

When I was in hospital giving birth last month I used my credit card to put credit on the patient line for tv for one day but the minimum amount is £5 andsupposedly whatever you don't use they will refund. I was charged straight away and the reund is still not showing on my credit card!! What a rip off!!!

I recommend emailing Patientline (via their website and complaining) that is what I did after a nightmare time with them and I recently got an email back saying compensation was going onto my credit card