Recovering patients at the Princess Royal Hospital are going without television because, they say, a hi-tech bedside entertainment system is too costly and complicated to use.
The system, called Patientline, offers TV, radio, telephone and internet on special overhead consoles. It has replaced the ward televisions of old – but it costs more than £10 a week.
It has been criticised by patient groups, who say elderly people in particular are missing out while other patients refuse to use it.
But despite this, Hospedia, the company behind the Patientline system, say they will be carrying out a £50,000 upgrade to the system in the summer, which they claim would make it easier for patients to use.
The system offers TV at £2.90 a day and packages of £7 for three days and £10 for five. It was operated by Patientline which went into administration last summer and has now been taken over by Hospedia.
A Hospedia spokesman said: “We are not aware of any complaints from patients We plan to invest in better internet and video on demand services and redesigning the controls to make it easier.
“The planned changes to the Patientline system as a whole are expected to cost around £50,000.”
But Alan Millward, the chairman of the League of Friends at the Princess Royal said the system was too expensive for elderly patients.
The League of Friends, a support group for the PRH is currently unable to provide ward TVs for patients.
Mr Millward said: “Isn’t it time that Tom Taylor, chairman of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust was up front about the system and told people why it was so expensive?
“I do think there is something drastically wrong, but it’s so frustrating because in the meantime elderly patients are left in limbo with a system that is too expensive for them to watch.”
But a spokesman for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said: “The Trust has not received any formal complaints about televisions .
“The entertainment system available to patients at the Princess Royal Hospital has been in place for more than four years. It was installed as part of an NHS Framework Agreement at no cost to the Trust.”
Councillor Pat Smart, the chairman of Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council, in whose area the hospital stands, said: “Families are stung for parking charges and stung again for television charges.
“It’s a sad indictment of the way in which hospitals have to be run these days.”
Being able to watch television could help patients to recover, she said, and it was very sad people could not afford to do so.
Mr David Wright, MP for Telford, said: “TV is very important for patients in hospital and I think that we need to provide the cheapest possible service.
“If demand for the service is falling, then we need to review the situation. I do feel that it is important that patients have choice, and that they get value for money.”
