HOSPITAL CHARGES

The cost to patients of making telephone calls from their hospital bed is to increase by 160%. Patientline, which charges people to make phone calls and watch television in hospital, is to increase its call charge from 10p a minute to 26p. It said the move was necessary because it had never made a profit despite investing £160m in the system. Although hospital bans on mobile phones are set to be lifted, NHS trusts are responsible for formulating their own policy on mobile phone usage.

Patientline charges patients £3.50 a day to watch television and £2.20 for an hour on the internet. The company said it is reducing the cost of television to £2.90 a day to compensate for the higher cost of calls and for people outside hospital calling patients at their bedside the cost is 39p per minute off-peak and 49p a minute peak. An investigation by Ofcom, which regulates phone and television services, claimed the firm could be breaking competition laws because of the high charges for dialling into hospitals. (Source: Mail on Sunday, Apr/07)

Hospitals which have sky-high charges for car parking, telephone calls and TV are set to face a Government investigation. In London, some hospitals charge £2.30 an hour for parking and Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry has just raised charges from £6 to £9 a day. Some hospitals also charge up to 49p a minute for incoming phone calls. MPs argue that outpatients, who have to go to hospitals several times a week for treatment, should get vouchers for cut-price or free parking. The Commons Health Select Committee has started its own investigation into NHS charges and it is expected to lead to a full Government probe. (Source: Daily Mirror, Mar/06)

Patientline, the company that provides bedside phone, TV and internet services for NHS hospital patients, has seen its annual losses more than double. The company reported a pre-tax loss of £24.7m after it was investigated by regulators over the level of call charges. Patientline said the negative publicity from the investigation had put people off using its phones. It also said that its revenues had been hit by ward closures and empty beds.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom said it was to look into the charges imposed on calls to hospital patients by their relatives, after complaints that they were too high. Ofcom cleared Patientline of any wrongdoing, saying the firm was not profiteering and that the price levels stemmed from the terms of the licences issued by the Department of Health. The Department of Health set up a review group that is looking at all aspects of bedside telephone and entertainment systems in hospitals. (Source: BBC News, Jun/06)

Ex-employees of Patientline, which has deals with 160 NHS trusts, said they were forced to approach ill patients to get them to sign up to the services. Company documents show that Patientline had recently started moving to a more "sales-driven" culture with all staff being urged to try to increase revenue. Patientline said it makes it clear to staff the sensitive nature of the work. Peter Troy, who worked for the company for 18 months at a north east hospital, said he was effectively having to approach everyone.

He said, "My concern was that the culture was changing. It was becoming high pressure sales and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with it. To obtain the performance figures that they expected then by definition you were having to approach everybody." And another former employee added, "It reminded me of a cold calling job. Going from door to door, except with this it was going from patient to patient. It did not matter how ill they looked."

A company newsletter has revealed there was a change in approach. It said there was a "need to create a sales-drive culture" and that "every individual in Patientline will be accountable either for direct selling or for supporting our sales teams in their quest to increase revenues." A spokeswoman for Patientline said, "Patientline does not encourage hard-selling and our advisors are merely there to provide information and support to patients." (Source: BBC News, May/07)

Patientline is facing collapse and is in crisis talks with banks over debts totalling £80million. Earlier this year it raised prices by 160% to 26p a minute but scrapped the increase after it was condemned by patient groups. However, incoming calls remain at 39p a minute off-peak and 49p during peak times. Raising prices was part of an attempt to revive the company’s fortunes but revenue is down by a fifth as people stopped using the phones.

Patientline has been caught out after investing £170million in high-tech systems in 150 NHS hospitals but the technology has been massively under-used. The company’s systems are installed at more than 75,000 hospital bedsides. It had hoped hospitals would allow patients to use the bedside screens to choose their meals. It was also set-up to enable doctors and nurses to check patient records and medication dosages electronically but just one hospital uses the units for electronic records and a handful of others have the meal option. (Source: Daily Express, Oct/07)