Hospital phone charges rocket by 160 per cent

The changes, which came into effect yesterday, also saw the imposition of a minimum charge of 40p - compared to 20p before.

Patientline has already been investigated by regulator Ofcom over exorbitant charges for relatives to ring patients - up to 49p a minute, more than the normal cost of a call to Australia.

A damning report found no evidence of wrongdoing but did order it to work with the Health Department to reduce incoming call charges.

Talks have been ongoing for a year but late last month the company shocked trusts by unilaterally announcing its charges to make outgoing calls were to shoot up by 160 per cent.

The news comes only a fortnight after it emerged that hospitals were making £95m a year from parking charges.

Patient groups and MPs slammed Patientline's 'diabolical' price hike, with one calling it a 'tax on sickness'.Patients Association chair Michael Summers said: 'In many, many cases patients and their familes are not going to be able to afford this. It is absolutely beyond the realm of payment for many patients. We are seeing an increasingly ageing population and many of these people will be on fixed incomes.

'It's too much and too expensive. These companies should not be targeting vulnerable and elderly people.'

He suggested that Patientline may feel under pressure after health minister Andy Burnham announced last month that the government was to scrap guidance to trusts saying mobile phones should not be used in hospitals - presumably reducing the need for patients to use bedside phones.

Judy Beard, acting chief executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: We are shocked to hear that cancer patients will now have to pay even more to call their friends and family from hospital.

'This is just another extra cost that patients have to bear. Only last month we highlighted the fact that NHS hospital trusts took over £95m in parking charges across England. Macmillan's research shows the average cancer patient spends £325 on travel and parking when going for treatment.'

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said of the phone charges: 'This is outrageous. It's a tax on sickness and a tax on patients communicating with loved ones.

'Hospitals should resist this very firmly. We should make it abundantly clear to Patientline that they can't get away with exorbitant charges.'

Karen Jennings, head of health at public sector union Unison, called on Ofcom to carry out a further exploitation on 'this terrible exploitation'.

She said: 'To rip off and exploit patients in this way is absolutely diabolical. Many poorer patients will be left even more stranded and out of contact from family and friends.'

Patientline's terminals are installed at 75,000 bedsides across the UK. The company says that although its call charges have risen, it has lowered the cost to patients accessing the other services on its bedside terminals, which provide TV, internet and games.

It said it had to recoup the entire cost of installing the systems, and blamed 'protracted' negotiations with the Health Department for preventing it from making cuts to telephone charges.

The company reported interim pre-tax losses of £9.1m compared to £5.4m the year before. A spokesman said: 'Patientline has yet to make a profit due to a heavy investment programme and in order to make the reduced costs for TV, internet and games economically viable we have had to increase the cost of outgoing calls to 26p a minute from 10p for the time being.'

'The alternative to interim price changes would potentially have been to remove services in parts of some hospitals, which Patientline is reluctant to consider as it wants to maintain access and choice for all patients.'

A Health Department spokesman strenuously denied they were preventing charges being reduced.

He said: 'It is disappointing to learn that Patientline has now increased its charge for patients to make calls from the bedside telephone without formally notifying the department or discussing and agreeing it with trusts in advance.

'The department has agreed to continue working with Patientline to explore how incoming call charges can be reduced. Unfortunately Patientline has been unable to present a proposal which will be acceptable to the taxpayer, particularly when there are other bedside systems which offer a cheaper and simpler range of user-friendly services.'

Stuart Derbyshire, from Birmingham University's school of psychology, backed the government's decision to scrap its guidance banning mobile phones in hospitals.

He said: 'Preventing people from using their own mobile phones in hospitals is not necessary. Forcing patients to use increasingly expensive hospital phones, which are also unfamiliar, rather than their own mobile phones is unfair and adds an unnecessary burden to those who are hospitalised.'