Mobiles bid to beat rises
Cannock hospital plans to increase the use of mobile phones to save patients from massive bills from telephone company Patientline.
The firm this week announced plans to increase charges to patients making phone calls from their beds from 10p per minute to 26p.
The Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forum said the move was "an absolute disgrace" and had talks with hospital bosses.
Rod Hammerton, of the PPI, said: "This is absolutely farcical. It is a rip-off and is targeting people that can't get up and about, who need the support of friends and family. The way they are running Patientline is disgraceful.
"The system is a nightmare anyway. If someone puts money in to watch television they have to watch the TV solidly for that amount of time, they can't even pick and choose the programmes."
Charges
Patientline is available to patients at Staffordshire General Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, which have 511 beds in total.
It charges £3.50 a day to watch TV and provides a calls and internet service.
Colin Plant, Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals Trust head of facilities, said Stafford's hospital will extend the number of areas where mobiles can be used.
They are currently prohibited in hospital wards at both hospitals, but can be used in the main entrance, day rooms on all wards, corridors, office accommodation, staff restrooms, the entrance to restaurants and in the gardens. The latest move may mean mobiles can be used on some wards.
Patientline which charges £2.20 for an hour on the internet, says it is to lift call charges from 10p a minute to 26p. It posted losses of £25 million last year and said it is cutting the cost of TV to £2.90 a day to compensate for higher calls costs. It told the BBC the move was necessary because it had never made a profit despite £160 million investment.
