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Hospitals should allow use of mobile phones - government
Patients and visitors should be allowed to use mobile phones in hospitals except near certain sensitive equipment, the government said on Tuesday.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:58 January 6, 2009
London: Patients and visitors should be allowed to use mobile phones in hospitals except near certain sensitive equipment, the government said on Tuesday.
Many hospitals still ban mobiles despite recent advice from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which said they are safe to use in most areas.
In new guidance for hospitals in England, the government said medical authorities should take a more liberal approach.
"The working presumption should be that patients will be allowed the widest possible use of mobile phones in hospitals, including on wards," the Department of Health said.
Quiet rooms
The only restrictions should be where the phones might interfere with sensitive equipment in critical care areas such as baby and renal units.
Consideration should also be given to ensuring that phone use does not contravene rules on privacy and dignity, particularly in the case of mobiles capable of taking photos or video.
"Mobiles phones are commonplace in everyday life these days and people have told us that they'd like to be able to use their phones more in hospital to keep in touch," said Health Minister Ben Bradshaw.
"That's why we're keen to encourage sensible use in NHS hospitals where it is safe to do so."
The NHS Confederation, which represents most organisations within the National Health Service, called for hospitals to establish quiet rooms and "no mobile" zones.
Patient deaths
Blunders soar
The number of patients killed by hospital blunders has risen by 60 per cent in two years, according to new figures.
Records show 3,645 died as a result of outbreaks of infections, botched operations and other mistakes between 2007 and last year up from 2,275 two years ago. Experts say the toll could be even higher because many hospitals do not record all the "patient safety incidents."
In October last year, the Patients Association warned one in every 300 NHS patients were killed because of blunders.
The figures, released by the Liberal Democrats, show that, among the total number, 385 died last year due to botched operations and 156 because scans were read wrongly or patients misdiagnosed.Another 54 were killed by wrongly administered drugs and 40 by faulty medical equipment, while 171 died from accidents such as falls. Another 135 died because they were not transferred properly between hospitals or wards, 22 deaths happened as a result of abuse by hospital staff and 487 committed suicide when their depression should have been spotted by doctors.
- Evening Standard
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