Phoning Patients In Hospital

pricefighter

Another one of the 18866/1899 family https://www.bestminutes.co.uk has an access number for 070 UK personal numbers its 0911 501 41 41 (15p a min). I dont know if this is any help to you.
Its slightly long winded in that you have to dial that no first, then you dial the 070 no,and if you dont get through the min charge usually kicks in.But it might be worth a try.

Smag

Anyone used these (http://www.bestminutes.co.uk/) before?
Dialing an 0911 ......... number sends shivers down my spine when I think how much it might cost!

Smag

Woby_Tide wrote:

I definitely was able to use 18866(using the NTL 0808 number rather than 18866 itself), maybe try that way(FTR 1899 is cheaper than 18866 if only I had known back then)

27-11-200422:05:470808-004470462101640:02:23 0.4867
29-11-200422:17:450808-004470462130530:01:21 0.2800
01-12-200418:07:200808-004470462130530:02:07 0.4333

Those are Patientline numbers at Poole and Bournemouth hospitals

Number for 1899 is 0808 1 708 708

If you're only registered with 18866 it's 0808 1 701 701 but still only 20p per min

Nice one didn't think of trying the 0808 number I'll give it a whirl now.

Whats the charge from 1899 by the way? Got It 15p/pm

dag_2

I used to work on a hospital ward.

The best way around the Patientline system is to phone the nurse's station, and ask them to pass a message on to the patient to phone you back.

Unfortunately, phoning out on a Patientline phone costs an arm and a leg too.

Your friend in hospital needs to ask to use the ward's phone. It helps if they feign ignorance about "these complicated Patientline systems" - and they should also pretend they don't have any money, and therefore can't buy credit.

Of course - if your friend is already using the Patientline system to watch TV, this might blow their cover slightly. But hey - the nurses don't really care. Patients can even go and use the nurse's phone without asking permission, and probably get away with it. In many wards, the sisters, nurses and care assistants are very busy people, and have got far more important things to worry about than whether or not patients have permission to use the phone.

Indeed - senior nurses know that patients need to maintain contact with friends and relatives on the outside - because if they don't, they become institutionalised, and it's more difficult to discharge them. So they are very unlikely to stop a patient using the phone.

Unfortunately, this will involve your friend getting out of bed and walking over to the nurses station. If the patient is of impaired mobility, this could be a problem. Yes, I know that's blatent disability discrimination.

Exceptions - if your friend has MRSA - or even worse, TB - it's unlikely they'll let your friend use the nurses station phone.

zzzLazyDaisy

My son was in hospital last week. It took an age to get through the spiel on Patient Line, and then nothing... no ring tone, no nothing. I hung up in the end, but I bet I paid for it! I am about 100 miles away, so we were dependent on the phone to keep in touch.

Fortunately my son was mobile (in both senses of the word ) He would go and sit outside and use his free texts to let me know, and I would phone him back. As we are both on O2, off peak calls are free under my contract.

Patient Line is a complete rip-off and targets vulnerable people. :mad:

Smag

just used the freephone numbers via 1899 and got through no probs at a (still rip off but a lot less so) 15p per minute.

Thanks a lot Woby_tide

pricefighter

Does anyone know if the Hospitals get a share of the revenue from the calls to patient line numbers.(49p a min peak,39p offpeak.) Because i thought revenue sharing on personal numbers had been banned by Ofcom.

Could you write to an NHS Trust under the FOI act and ask them what revenue if any,or benefits in kind they are getting by having Patientline in there Hospital.

bbb_uk

pricefighter wrote:

Does anyone know if the Hospitals get a share of the revenue from the calls to patient line numbers.(49p a min peak,39p offpeak.) Because i thought revenue sharing on personal numbers had been banned by Ofcom.

Could you write to an NHS Trust under the FOI act and ask them what revenue if any,or benefits in kind they are getting by having Patientline in there Hospital.

Not sure. You could ask them anyhow. I know that PatientLine installed all their TVs, etc with no cost to the hospitals (see here) therefore I'm guessing that must have costs a substantial amount of money.

I actually wonder if they (PatientLine) are actually making any profit yet?

What I don't agree with is using an 07x personal number but at premium rate prices (49ppm peaktime) and yet they still keep you on hold for a minute or two. I've never had to ring them yet but does anyone exactly what crap they tell you over the phone whilst keeping you on hold. The reason being is surely that has to be some rule against that and OfCOM should investigate?

Smag

Own initiative investigation into Inclarity's possible misuse of Personal Numbers. Ofcom was concerned that the service offered by Inclarity was not in accordance with appropriate use of 070 numbers. Ofcom closed the case on the basis that Inclarity had already made some changes to the way its service works and intends to make further changes which Ofcom considers will ensure that Inclarity's use of 070 numbers is consistent with Ofcom's published guidance and complies with General Condition 17. Ofcom is monitoring Inclarity's progress in implementing these changes.

Complaint against Patientline about alleged misuse of Personal Numbers. Ofcom opened an investigation to consider whether Patientline's use of 070 numbers is in breach of General Condition 17. Ofcom received details from Patientline of their proposed investment in a revised system, which if implemented will remove Ofcom's concerns. Ofcom has requested that Patientline provide periodic updates regarding the company's progress towards implementing the revised system.

Seems that OFCOM don't have too many relatives in hospital!

ec9wrr

I phoned a friend in Lincoln hospital using my Orange OVP T-Mobile 200 talk plan. I expected to pay the rate that the message told me when I called (about 49p per minute). However, I called orange on 150 to check - they told me the call would be 8p per minute off peak (or there abouts) but not included in free minutes. Anyway, none of that matters as it was actually in my free minutes! Almost worth taking a contract out if you will need to call someone long-term... particularly as you can get OVP T-mobile 200 and 100 on free line rental deals! I suppose the problem is you are never quite sure if it will be free. I wasn't until my bill arrived.