Premier Telesolutions say no to refunds at Arrowe Park Hospital

Nov 11 2009 by Carrie Catterall, Birkenhead News

THE refund service on bedside cards at Arrowe Park Hospital is no longer available.

The cards allow patients to watch television and make phone calls from their bed.

Premier Telesolutions, who install the bedside entertainment systems, have always allowed patients to get back any credit they haven’t used.

A member of hospital staff said: “Patients are really annoyed that they can no longer get refunds on the cards.

“If a patient is sent home early after buying £20 credit, they’ll just lose it.

“It’s cheating people out of money. Sometimes people don’t know how long they’ll be in hospital for.”

According to Gareth Ellis, support services director for Premier Telesolution, the refunds have stopped because patients’ cards were getting stolen.

He said: “We have experienced a growing problem across our estate of the theft of bedside cards from terminals, which are taken to vendors and refunded, thus allowing offenders to effectively steal patients’ money.

“We have been asked to take action against this and removing the refund facility goes some way to addressing the issue.”

The fact that mobile phones can now be used in hospitals also prompted Premier Telesolution to make the change so that they could continue offering their service.

Mr Ellis added: “We have not taken this decision lightly and in fact until recently we were the only provider to offer a refund service, we cannot however continue to offer this facility.

“When the refund facility was removed from sites, we did change our internet access policy and now give all patients free access to the internet across our entire estate.

“We also give patients free radio, all are provided at no cost to the Trust or the patients as an additional service.”