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Q456 Mr Amess: You have really sort of guessed many of my questions really, including talking about Ofcom. In terms of the volume of complaints, have you had a lot of complaints about the cost of charges not only from patients, but from Member of Parliament?
Mr Lewis: I think it is important to say, first of all, that, by and large, there is a remarkably high level of satisfaction with these services on the part of patients, and the NHS itself conducted research about a year ago which indicated that 90% or thereabouts of patients were satisfied with the services that they received. There are obviously concerns about having to pay at all in the hospital environment within the NHS, but again, by and large, the majority of patients feel that the charges for television and for outgoing calls, which were deliberately capped as part of the original programme, are reasonable and they are happy to pay those. There have been complaints, and there has been quite a significant volume of complaints, about the costs of incoming calls which are set at a much higher level and which are now higher than the norm for telephone calls generally, and those complaints come from callers, friends and relatives who call patients and indeed from Member of Parliament who are reflecting the views of their constituents.
Q457 Mr Amess: In terms of the technology that you have available, would you share with the Committee what other services you feel you could provide and can you try and seduce us by saying that, if you did provide these extra services, in actual fact you would be saving money for the National Health Service?
Mr Lewis: A number of these services not only, in our view, would save money, but produce some significant improvements in patient care, patient satisfaction and indeed patient choice, but, with a PC at the bedside, the scope is very considerable. For example, and these are all things which are now being done, but not to the extent that we would like to see them done, there are two hospitals in the UK where patients now order their food on the system.
Q458 Mr Amess: Which are those hospitals?
Mr Lewis: They are in the north-east, North Tees and Hartlepool, the first two hospitals to do so. That brings a number of benefits: the information about the menu and its dietary parameters is easily available to the patient; they can order their food a very short time before the meal is actually delivered; it arrives at the right bed because they have not moved bed in the interim and that brings significant reductions in food wastage; it completely eliminates the need to print menu cards; changes to the menu can be done instantly; and it is a means of providing information about what food patients have ordered for the monitoring of their diet. In those two hospitals and the other hospitals that are now looking at it, there are some very tangible savings and clinical benefits.
Q459 Mr Amess: Will you answer the direct charge though that one of the reasons your expenses are so high is that you are not getting that which you thought you would from the National Health Service and it is the poor old patient who is lumbered with these costs?
Mr Lewis: I think there is an element of truth in that. When this programme was conceived, it was anticipated that things like food-ordering and access to clinical records at the bedside would be widely used and would generate a significant source of income for the providers. The development of that income has been much slower than was originally expected. Had that income developed at the pace that everyone expected at the time, we would have expected to have been able to reduce the level of incoming call charges by now.
Q460 Mr Amess: Do you think the current charging agreement does actually have a viable future or do you think the whole thing is going to have to be looked at again?
Mr Lewis: We believe it is viable, but unsatisfactory at present and we would very much like to see change and we hope, therefore, that this review group that is being set up by the Department of Health will, first of all, consider a wide range of options, will look at the way these services are funded in other countries which do not involve high levels of charges for incoming calls, will consider ways of encouraging other uses to the system, and also more effective operation on the boundaries between the services that the providers offer and the things that the hospital does. Our belief is that, if there is an open mind in approaching those issues, there are a number of ways in which those charges can be reduced and we very much hope that it will operate to a very tight timetable as it is not something we would like to see drift on for any great length of time and we would like it to work to conclusions within a few months so that we can actually implement some changes quickly.
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NHS Patientline 49p per minute Ofcom Investigation (Read 542,759 times)
