HOSPITAL patients are to foot the bill for a 160 per cent increase to make phone calls from their bedside.

The Patientline service, in operation at the Princess Royal University Hospital,

Farnborough, Bromley, is hiking up charges from 10p to 26p in a bid to recoup massive losses after spending more than £160 million on the system in 13 years of operation.

Outside calls to a bedside number far outway costs from a BT landline at cost 39p per minute off-peak and 49p at all other times.

The news comes on the back of a decision from Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, that Patientline was not responsible for overcharging customers for telephone services.

The 2005 investigation concluded that charges are a consequence of Government policy, including the terms of the licence set by the Department of Health that the NHS should provide the service.

Bromley Hospitals’ NHS Trust says it has no say in the matter due to Patientline being a private company.

However, patients can now use their mobile phones in a selection of wards across and the Trust still does provide public telephones in all hospitals.

Patientline has stated that the units are installed at no cost to the NHS and are put in at every requested bedside even when uneconomic.;

Within 10 years the service was installed in 100 hospitals throughout the UK with more than 75,000 bedside units.

Patientline also provides television screens, radio and internet services that the company says will benefit from reduced price packages.