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Mobiles finally admitted to English hospitals

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England is catching up with Scotland and Wales in liberalising mobile phone use in hospitals, a mere five years after it was established that such use didn't present a significant risk to medical equipment.

The guidance comes from the Department of Health and states that outside intensive care, and specialist baby units, mobile phones should be allowed - though the final decision will be up to local trusts.

Having established that mobile phones won't interfere with the vast majority of medical equipment, the argument comes down to the more prevalent privacy and decency concerns. Camera phones could present privacy issues, but of greater concern is the threat to common decency now we can't expect polite behaviour any more.

As Nigel Edwards, director of policy from the NHS Confederation, told the BBC, what concerns hospital managers is "the noise of annoying ring tones or the kind of loud phone conversations that already plague much of everyday life. Doctors and nurses doing their rounds should not have to constantly wait for patients to finish phone calls and night-times on wards should not be disturbed by the chirruping of text messages."

It seems unlikely such arguments will prevent mobile phone use spreading into hospital wards, but legislating against impolite behaviour is always difficult. While the news may dent the profits of Patientline, most patients will relish the opportunity to share their condition with friends and relatives. ®

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Latest Comments

distaster

this could spell disaster for the newly formed Hospedia (formerly Patientline)

if mobiles are accepted into all hospitals (some hospitals could still ban them)

as Hospedia makes most money out of the phone calls (they have promised to bring the charges down) and some out of the tv service. i wonder if they will go the same way as Patientline.

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Anonymous Coward

Good news but

You will sadly get the dickheads that insist on shouting to show they are on a mobile but most decent people will consider their surroundings and others.

@Andy Barber Please accept my condolences

@DJ You'd have my full backing if they did not comply with a reasonable request.

Here's hoping patientcrime become a victim of the credit crunch

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Be nice ladies

My wife was in hospital recently, i used my phone extensively, i had it on silent and vibrate and only texted (and i HATE texting), having a voice conversation in a hospital seemed WRONG to me.

Didn't stop the lady in the next bed having a LOUD and expensive patientline conversation though !

Set the wife up with the patientline system then discovered she had no headphones, then contacted the helpline to request headphones and they said someone would be out MONDAY, they don't work the weekends ?. Eventually stole a set of headphones from a empty bed for the night for her and brought her a new set in from home the next day.

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