The Batphone and the UK NHS Hospital

I think it has to be official. The prohibition on your batphone in a hospital has to have been to enable the hospital to charge for phone facilities. My cynicism tells me that, as the phone provision for patients has been outsourced, and as the profit on calls no longer goes to the hospital's funds, the restrictions on mobile phones in hospital wards have been relaxed.

In fact patients are now actively encouraged to have their own mobiles in the ward in order to minimise nursing time spent in relaying messages. I'm thinking of buying my mother a pay as you go phone, just so she can keep in touch from her bed!

The only real aggravation is the ring tone. An unanswered personal cellphone can disturb all the other patients totally. But, with the exception of Intensive Care, the mobile is welcomed in the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust's hospitals, and, presumably, in hospitals nationwide.

Is this progress?

Two schools of thought:

Yes, because it allows the patient the comfort of being able to control contact with nearest and dearest. Good morale means good healing.

No, because the patient is sick. Sick people probably are unaware of what is truly best for them, and health bulletins are best interpreted by a competent nurse or medic, not by the patient themselves.

But it does seem to be official. The mobile phone is allowed in all general wards and public areas. The Intensive Care team say they really have no idea whether their equipment is affected, so, for now, they choose to ban the phones - not really a problem because most patients there have no ability to think, let alone speak.

I wonder when we'll be allowed to use them on filling station forecourts?