Thread: Hospital charges for TV and Phone
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Old 04-04-2007, 16:49   #16
Vlad_Dracul
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Re: Hospital charges for TV and Phone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salu View Post
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6524545.stm

Our Trust has this installed and all I ever hear are complaints about it. About extortionate charges mostly and complaints about having to pay to watch TV.

Anyone else have experience of them? Have you stayed in hospital and have used them?

What do you think ought to happen when in hospital though? Free TV & low call charges? Use your own mobiles?

Actually mobiles don't really have as much effect on hospital equipment as you may expect. Sure some things are effected and some fire alarms but not to the point that you need to turn your phone off whenever you are in the vicinity of a hospital. In fact you have to be within 1 metre of the device that a mobile may effect for any effect to be noticed.
There has been much talk of this lately and it was one of the subjects for discussion on Talk Radio UK.

Strangely it all seems rather simple to me. The NHS is not free of charge as people continue to maintain. It is free at point of use. The only people for whom it is truly free are the terminally useless and other groups who have never paid substantial amounts of tax and national insurance.

Now then, the NHS is there to provide health services. It is not there to provide car parking, telephone and other media services.

They have therefore contracted in these services from other providers who,since they are not charities, hope to make a return on their investment.

That is all that is happening. Outside providers are providing premium services for those who want them and charging for those services. I will accept that the charges are extortionate in some cases so the answer then is dont use them. But then, what other choice is there?. Well i can see no reason why people cannot use their mobiles in hospitals as long as they do not cause undue annoyance to others. Perhaps there should be a stipulation that they may only be used in day/common rooms?.

Televisions? well if people bring their own in there are issues with safety,accomodating them,portable appliance testing,cost of power used etc. No doubt we would have some chav propping a 42 inch plasmoh on the end of the bed!

As an aside issue,perhaps the NHS needs to address the way they accomodate patients? Why for example are patients expected to be undressed,get in their PJ's and lie around in bed for most of the day? What is all that about? The perpetration of the age old ward system. Many of those people could dress during the day and mobilise around the hospital and just re-appear at their hospital beds or at various departments when treatment is scheduled. There could be all sorts of advantages to such a system.
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