The move to dramatically increase the cost of making telephone calls from hospital beds by 160 per cent will hit the elderly and vulnerable hardest, campaigners said today.

The announcement that Patientline, the UK’s main provider of hospital bedside entertainment and communications, plans to increase its charges from 10p to 26p, comes shortly after guidance from the Department of Health recommended that patients should be widely permitted to use mobile phones on hospital premises.

For people calling patients using Patientline telephones from outside hospital the cost is already 39p per minute off-peak and 49p a minute peak.

As shares in Patientline fell 6 per cent today, the company came in for a barrage of criticism. It said it had to recoup the millions of pounds spent on investing in the system and blamed a lengthy timetable for discussions with the Department of Health for it having to postpone a decision on reducing charges.

Michael Summers, trustee of the Patients Association, said the costs to ill people and their families were too high. “Patients are very concerned already and the proposed increase in percentage terms will mean that, in many, many cases, patients and their families will not 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 said people could call around the world for about half the cost of the 49p a minute charge.

Last month Andy Burnham, the Health Minister, said that he saw no need for hospitals to have an outright ban on the use of mobile phones: "As technology has moved on it is right that we update our guidance on mobile phones to reflect that,” he said.

"We recognise that patients and staff should be able to use mobile phones, where it is appropriate to do so and subject to medical and privacy considerations. I see no reason for trusts to have an outright ban on mobile phones - especially in communal areas.”

Last year the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency found that mobile phones only had a negative impact in specialist wards such as intensive care or baby units.

A study in the British Medical Journal found that they affected only four per cent of medical devices at a distance of one metre – less than the walkie-talkie handsets carried by hospital and emergency service staff. It concluded mobile phone interference was "ultimately harmless to the patient".

Barbara Wood, chair of the Patient Liaison Group for the British Medical Association, said: "We welcome the fact that trusts are being encouraged to allow patients and staff to use them, although this needs to be done in a way that does not affect other patients’ right to peace and quiet.”

In December, Patientline reported interim pre-tax losses of £9.1 million compared to £5.4 million the year before. In a statement today, it insisted it wanted to reduce call charges but had yet to make a profit.

It also said “our charges are dictated by the Government’s contract with Patientline, which means we have to fund and recover all installation (about £1 million per hospital) as well as the additional day-to-day running costs.”

But Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said the hike was “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 such exorbitant charges.”

Patientline charges patients £3.50 a day to watch television and £2.20 for an hour on the internet. It says it is reducing the television cost to £2.90 a day to compensate for the higher cost of calls. This will now include free radio, free internet and free games on internet-enabled consoles.

The company’s systems are installed at more than 75,000 hospital bedsides. Ofcom, which regulates phone and television services, has previously recommended that the Department of Health review hospital bedside telephone and entertainment systems.

Andrew Stronach from the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital said today: “We have written to Patientline to formally object and to demand a meeting with them to discuss this step. They have agreed a stay of execution for two weeks and as a result they will not be putting up the charges here from today.”

A statement from Patientline said: “Patientline has announced its will and determination to reduce call charges and has been conducting trials to assess different price models and gain patient feedback on a number of sites around the country.

“It is timely to remember that the value of Patientline services comprises the provision of choice and control at the bedside that patients enjoy at home, which in turn enables nurses to attend to nursing duties rather than having to function as switchboard operators or deal with patient boredom. These were the sound ideas behind the installation of Patientline services, which remain sound today."

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