From Daily Mail


Quote:

Patients are having to pay £7 a day to watch TV in their hospital beds after the charge more than doubled overnight. The bedside TV and phone company Hospedia raised the price of using its equipment at three hospitals from £2.90. MPs and patient groups have condemned the rises, which they fear could be matched for all the 75,000 ‘bedside entertainment systems’ run by the company across the country. North Tyneside General Hospital, one of the three affected, has demanded an urgent meeting with Hospedia. The old £2.90 charge covered only TVs, while phones were charged by the call – 10p a minute for patients to phone out and a painful 49p a minute for relatives to phone in. The company says the new price will cover the TV service and free phone calls. But there is no lower charge for patients who do not want to make calls. ..... Hospedia said the £7 charge was a package covering TV, including a sports channel, and unlimited outgoing calls. Relatives would now have to pay only 10p a minute to call in.

Hard to find anything positive to say about this company ...

It is deeply regrettable that the hospital trust has been unable to find a contractor who can provide patients with TV and private landline telephones at a reasonable price and on a sound commercial basis.

For those patients who need to keep in touch with friends and relatives but do not have their own mobile phones, one might have thought that an arrangement with a mobile phone company would now offer a better solution to this need. This is however probably prevented by the exclusive contract with Hospedia, although the possibility should be examined. The Hospital Friends could even keep a stock of donated phones with PAYG SIMS for patients to top-up.

TV and personal telephones are however not NHS services, unlike those of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust itself. Patients and their relatives calling in to speak to the hospital incur premium charges for the hospital's own 0844 number.

irrelevant wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 1:20am:

From Daily MailHospedia said the £7 charge was a package covering TV, including a sports channel, and unlimited outgoing calls. Relatives would now have to pay only 10p a minute to call in.

But what is the charge for calling in to customers now having to pay £7 per day for phone and tv in hospital?  I bet it is still on an 070 number charged at 49p per minute. ;) :o :'(

NGMsGhost wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 2:12pm:

irrelevant wrote on Feb 21st, 2009 at 1:20am: From Daily MailHospedia said the £7 charge was a package covering TV, including a sports channel, and unlimited outgoing calls. Relatives would now have to pay only 10p a minute to call in. But what is the charge for calling in to customers now having to pay £7 per day for phone and tv in hospital?  I bet it is still on an 070 number charged at 49p per minute. ;) :o :'(

Did you miss the Relatives would now have to pay only 10p a minute to call in part of your own post JS?

Heinz wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 2:15pm:

Did you miss the Relatives would now have to pay only 10p a minute to call in part of your own post?

It seems I did then in haste but please note my name in this forum is NGMsGhost Mr Heinz 57 Varieties.  I note that you are careful to guard your own real world identity while cheerfully attempting to unmask the identity of other forum members.

So Hospedia will now use premium rate 0871 instead of premium rate 070 numbers.  These 0871 numbers being charged at around £1 per minute to call from a BT payphone.  And at around 40p to 50p per minute on some mobile phones. :o >:( :'(

Let us compare the prices of this company with Patientline. Patientline charge much more. I am not saying that this company is good, but we may get better deals in future hopefully.
gudman

gudman wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 6:09pm:

Let us compare the prices of this company with Patientline. Patientline charge much more. I am not saying that this company is good, but we may get better deals in future hopefully.

I don't see how Hospedia are cheaper than Patientline unless you make at least 40 minutes of outgoing calls or receive at least 10 minutes of incoming calls a day on the phone and tv service at £7 per day. :-? :-/

NGMsGhost wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 6:15pm:

gudman wrote on Feb 21st, 2009 at 6:09pm: Let us compare the prices of this company with Patientline. Patientline charge much more. I am not saying that this company is good, but we may get better deals in future hopefully. I don't see how Hospedia are cheaper than Patientline unless you make at least 40 minutes of outgoing calls or receive at least 10 minutes of incoming calls a day on the phone and tv service at £7 per day. :-? :-/

Hospedia is Patient Line,s new name.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=448240&in_page_id=3

irrelevant wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 1:20am:

From Daily Mail Quote: North Tyneside General Hospital, one of the three affected, has demanded an urgent meeting with Hospedia.

The meeting was held yesterday (20th Feb). The trial of the new pricing structure is to be discontinued, and the company says
Quote:

An alternative version will be implemented with the same attempt to retain the essence of lower call prices but re-balance TV costs.