The ban on mobile phone use in the UK’s hospitals could be lifted, ending the current monopoly enjoyed by expensive services such as Premier and Patientline.
There are continual complaints about the price of the services available in hospitals where outgoing calls are 10p per minute and incoming calls are charged at up to 49p per minute. At present each patient is given a bedside phone which is routed through whichever service the hospital is using.
Hospital chiefs are in discussions with the government about creating designated areas within hospitals for mobile phones to be used safely. Mobiles cannot be used in hospitals due to risk that electromagnetic interference will affect near sensitive equipment.
However an investigation into these claims has proved that concerns were unfounded and there is no evidence to show that mobile phones can be a hazard.
