NGMsGhost wrote on Jun 27^th, 2007 at 2:39pm:

No, I would think it has virtually no value in terms of the balance sheet. But Patientline needs the terminals to replace faulty ones and for spare parts. And I would expect the company to remove control room equipment for spares at other sites and/or for liquidation. The labour cost of removing equipment is much lower than that for installation; most of the latter was for the infrastructure. The Trust has the option of purchasing the cabling from Patientline or can require the company to sell it to an incoming operator.


Quote:

Yes, but not better for Patientline. In reality I would not expect any other company to be interested in taking on a Patientline system at any price. The systems are mutually incompatible, the terminals are a proprietary design, no spare parts or replacements would be obtainable, and some are no doubt already unserviceable. They are probably inextricably integrated with the control systems that are run from the call centre and from HQ, which are also proprietary. And there is the small problem of everything being branded 'Patientline', with which they may not wish to be associated.


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You are aware that I am involved in hospital broadcasting. I have occasional contact in the course if this activity with Patientline employees, and I look at the company's web site and others.

I think the real problem with Patientline is the deep seated rorting and the apparent ease with which you Brits can be ripped off. I think someone else here mentioned 'Treasure Island' and it is well known that just about everything is twice as expensive in "Rip-Off Britain" as it is elsewhere. (It is being reported that the iPhone will be about twice the US price when it is released in the UK later this year......) Indeed, the whole concept of this web site appears to be uniquely and peculiarly British. Nowhere else in a first world country could the sharks get away with it with such consummate ease!

I did a quick check on some hospitals in other English speaking counties, and it appears that they all have the same problem. Supplying information services, communications and entertainment isn't seen as a core service. In these days of rising medical costs, that is probably understandable. However, the difference is that elsewhere, the costs are reasonable. I don't think people would mind paying a small premium for the facilities offered. What they don't want to do is be absolutely taken to the cleaners so a bunch of crooked directors (and probably equally crooked NHS directors, who are almost certain to be getting backhanders) can get rich quick. It is only possible because it is a captive market - and just as BT essentially control the NTS system, whenever there is a monopoly, the temptation will be there to fleece the public (and please don't attempt to tell me that BT don't have a monopoly any longer!  )

Public opinion - hopefully - will force a reasonable compromise - eventually. However, for the time being, it looks like mobiles are going to have to be used - whether the hospital trusts like it or not! There again, it would certainly get patients out of the wards more quickly. Now there's an evil thought - maybe that's the intent....... 

It would make the statistics look good for your new Prime Miserabilist......

questa wrote on Jul 7^th, 2007 at 10:46pm:


Ever hear of the proverbial Ostritch or of the story of The Emperors New Clothes - I think you will find it is all a rather similar scenario.

Why should this service make a profit any more than anything else in the NHS makes a profit?

What is needed is for the assets of Patientline to be acquired and operated by the NHS and for the calls to be provided at the lowest possible price to patients that is the same as or as close as possible to normal 01/02 call prices.

Then the NHS's main objective of ensuring their patients can stay in touch with relatives just as well as patients in private hospitals can will be achieved.

The NHS does not expect the cleaning staff in its hospitals to be self financing so why on the earth should the patient telephone system be self financing.  Especially if patient mobile phones are not allowed to be used in hospital for alleged medical safety reasons.

bbb_uk wrote on Aug 2^nd, 2007 at 7:41pm:

That was part of the new tariff structure that was introduced on 4th April. The TV rate was reduced, and made inclusive of internet and games (previously charged seperately) but the concessions were abolished for long stays and over 65s. There were comments here starting at http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1122290403/420#420

Ofcourse though, it is still a ruddy fortune to call people in hospitals! It still doesn't persuade all but the ones who don't realise the call price, or who HAVE to use the system, to call patients in hospital.

More from The Guardian

http://money.guardian.co.uk/news_/story/0,,2143371,00.html

<<
Patientline, the company offering hospital-based premium rate phone and television services, has announced plans to cut the cost of calls, and admitted that the 160% increase in charges in April was "a mistake".

The company, which caused controversy when it increased call charges for patients from 10p to 26p a minute, said that from tomorrow it was reducing the cost of outgoing calls back down to 10p a minute.

The minimum call charge has also been cut from 40p to 10p, which is below the pre-April figure of 20p.

[...]

Commercial director, Charlotte Brown, said the cut came in response to customer feedback and was designed to encourage more people to use the service.

She said the previous increase in charges had put patients off making calls and admitted "it was clearly a mistake for us to put the price of outgoing calls up".

[...]

Ms Brown said the company had focused on reducing the cost of calls for the patient, but that Patientline also had "a commitment to lowering incoming call costs".
[...]

>>

My guess is that, at some future date, PTL will start using either 0871 or 09 PRS, perhaps at 25p/min or so, for its incoming numbers. Will this precede bankruptcy?

Heinz wrote on Aug 7^th, 2007 at 10:30pm:
Indeed. This entity is just clueless, greedy, or most likely, both. Many people are hoping that PTL just goes bust. It has demonstrated contempt, and deserves whatever is coming.

idb wrote on Aug 7^th, 2007 at 10:21pm:


So why is it that everyone apart from Patientline could see this?  I didn't realise about the 40p minimum call charge as well previously for outgoing calls.  Ye Gods these people are so greedy and devious it is beyond belief.

Surely Patientline should have realised by now that 49p per minute is actually costing them more money than it earns, never mind their blackened reputation.  It seems inexplicable that they have never tried 10p a minute for a few months to see if they don't then have 15 times as much call duration as a result.

I still think it is no coincidence that Patientline was run by the former head of the prisons service, Mr Derrick Lewis.  Everything about the way Patientline has been run suggests that it considers hospital patients and their relatives to simply be another form of prisoner.