AIBU to think that TV in hospital should be free for anyone in hospital.

[ModreB]

this makes me really angry

And I know the article is about Manchester, but the wider issue is about poorly people inhopital ill, who may not be able to get to a paypoint to pay for the TV.

Why should people in hospital have to pay for TV that everyone else gets for free? Not necessarily live TV, but freeview TV that doesn't need a licence should be free to watch.

My father had ms he couldn't manage to read! It's not as simple as that for many people especially as his eyesight was affected, his co-ordination,his memory....

1ofthesedays Queen Elizabeth University Hosp in Glasgow. Private ensuite rooms, wifi and tv entertainment system things with games/Internet access on them too so can gp on I player for example and health record/local information pages but they have never been working.

I'm in right now. I'm in a admissions ward which is still private room but not TVs. The respiratory ward I often end up in has fridges and fans too although I think these were funded by a cystic fibrosis charity.

Parking here is free. Although I think if its same as old hosp you get a ticket if over a certain time but you can get an exemption if you say what ward you were in etc. I have a blue badge now so that doesn't affect me so not sure how it works at this hosp.

The private rooms aren't great for the elderly and those without visitors. Very isolating. Especially for long stays. And it's hard for nurses to assess. Usually they'd cast eye round all bays while coming in to attend to one patient. Now they'd have to actively open each door and peek in.

I felt safer in the old hosp. If I had an attack I could rely on someone to see and buzz for me or if neexed i could chuck something from table into floor to get other patients attention for help. Now I need buzzer right beside me in night. If you aren't scheduled for regular obs they don't come in at all. And I can have blinds on doors totally shut. And they'd not know if I was asleep or collapsed on floor in bathroom. Where as before in bays they'd be in for at least 1 patient. I often don't sleep at all at night cos of meds so I know 100% they don't come in.

Er, read a book instead?

When it's dark in room and light in corridor you notice if they open these blinds to even look in. Plus you can hear them open as they as in between the glass and clunk. I've spent many nights up all night on mn and never once had them open them to look never mind open the door. A girl in my ward had a seizure and a cleaner found her by chance.

as I mentioned above however television helps an immeasurable number of patients feel calm, safe and keeps the boredom at bay. Several people use it as a comfort as it reminds them of their home routine

It also pisses off an immeasureable number of people who can't bear the noise of other peoples TV's, inane programmes they would never choose to watch etc. I very much doubt everyone is using headphones with the tv's?
The noise is so intrusive and so unfair.

Giraffes
that sounds amazing, truly. This should be the minimum standard for all our hospitals!

You make good points about private rooms, it does depends on individuals. My grand-parents would be very distraught to be in a public ward, it would be even worst for my grand-mothers who had been raised to be a very private person. They are the kind of people who would avoid hospitals at all cost to avoid communal settings.
My experience of communal wards is hellish. I personally find them exhausting, noisy, depressing for the lack of peace and quiet and privacy. Even discussing very private medical issues behind curtains is horrible.

I do hope you have a pleasant stay! (as pleasant as can be...)

Live
I fully agree about the noise.
In the most recent hospital I have been admitted to, the system was - you buy the top up card and if you wanted headphones you asked on the ward and a health care assistant gave you some when they got round to it. Inevitably people just did without or didn't bother to ask and the ward was louder than a nightclub with 12 TVs blaring different channels and HCPs, visitors and patients shouting over them.
I think when buying the top up card they should dispense headphones from the machine automatically and there should be a way to make the televisions impossible to use until the headphones are inserted. Certainly you aren't able to use your own headphones on any of the hospital televisions I have used without the sound being unbearably crackly, so I assume they have added a work around there, which shows to me it is possible to add something to implement a change.

You can read a book or listen to the radio.

I think there should be some form of payment but the charges are extortionate as the companies providing the tvs are private and profit making, such as Hospedia which is American and doubled its charges last year, I doubt the NHS gets much of the money.

I'd also say to the pp who suggested using a phone or tablet "like everyone else" that not everyone has a tablet or a laptop or even a phone where they can watch tv. Poorer people are, as ever, most adversely affected by these outrageous charges. The elderly are less likely to have these things either.

Incidentally, last time I was in hospital ( for 3 weeks) there were a few private rooms but mostly wards of 8 beds where every bed had a tv, all with headphones. You couldn't actually take the headphones out of the tv so we never heard what other people were watching.

I wouldn't expect it to be free but it should be only a small charge for the basic channels. Those saying read a book, use laptops etc don't understand the difficulties that a large number of patients face.
My fil is in at the moment and all he can do is watch tv. Reading and even his old favourite doing wordsearches, is now beyond him. Ds as an adult wouldn't be able to do anything else either.

I don't understand what the OP posted:

Why should people in hospital have to pay for TV that everyone else gets for free? Not necessarily live TV, but freeview TV that doesn't need a licence should be free to watch.

Freeview TV does require a licence to watch. Do you not have a licence at home, OP?

My local hospital used to have pay TV, they made them free about 5 years ago and now there is still a TV by every bed but most don't work because with them being free there is nobody repairing them. They all require headphones to work and someone comes round once a day to sell them

We are lucky and have free WiFi now at the hospital

When the TV needed paying for, I took a portable dvd player with me for a planned stay as I didn't want to spend a fortune on TV when there was never anything on it anyway! It also annoyed me that you paid for 24 hours and were asleep a considerable amount of that, especially as you tend to sleep a lot when you are unwell.

I used to work for one of the companies that provides them. They weren't making any money and were in fact making losses year on year. Not that I felt sorry for them - awful company to work for!

TV is not essential. YABU.

I've been in hospital a lot for very major operations. When in ICU the TV was free but on the wards it wasn't. However, there is a lounge you can go and watch TV in. It gets you mobile and sitting. I did this a lot and was released days earlier. However, I also made sure I had enough to watch TV from my bed. It really helps with the boredom. This and a big tome of a book to read, plus rubbish magazines and the newspaper daily. Being in hospital post recovery is boring. I'm glad there are options to busy yourself. Plus the radio is free to listen to. When in hospital you get free meals too.

People do use the hospital's electric to charge devices such as a tablet and phones. An Amazon fire tablet is just £50 and is brilliant.

I know a lot of nurses at a hospital which now has mainly (or even all not sure) private rooms don't like it either as it does make it harder for them and like giraffes said is more isolating.

When ds is in I hate it when he has to have a private room. It soon becomes very lonely at least in cubicles you can talk to the other parents a bit

I would have loved ds to have a private room. He was in a bay with 3 young children and every time one of them made a noise he got distressed.
I think it is good to have both wards and side rooms available. My fil prefers a ward because he gets lonely on his own.

I was in an overflow ward last time with no TVs. Since everyone was properly ill, I preferred it.

Agree above about private rooms. I think it is people who are in hospital for a one off operation who have shouted for private rooms, not those who are frequently in hospital really ill who can feel very isolated in a private room. I prefer the nightingale wards

I also think TVs should be off at a certain time so people can sleep,not just those with TVs on but other patients in the bay as the bright flickering light makes it hard to sleep.

I've been moved up to the proper respiratory ward now from the respiratory receiving unit. Taken some room pics if you're interested. Done it before I mess it up. Took lung power to get up and take them so you'd better appreciate them

A room with a view!

I don't know about free TV (maybe more for those who can't operate mobile devices like tablets though), but judging from some of the responses on this thread patients should feel grateful to be offered a cup of gruel.

We have quite low expectations of what the NHS should offer in terms of care sometimes. I don't think a rush to the bottom helps anyone.

YABVU. Why the hell should it be free?