Administrators have been called in to the controversial group
that supplied NHS bedside telephones and other services.
Patientline,
which had attracted severe criticism for charging a premium rate of
49p a minute on incoming calls, went into administration after the
banking syndicate backing the company decided that it had no hope
of financial recovery.
The bankers have formed a new company to buy the Patientline
assets and continue operations.
The company won contracts from NHS trusts to install bedside
terminals in hospital wards providing telephones, television and
other entertainment services.
The Department of Health later persuaded it to embark on a
costly upgrade of the equipment so that it could be used by doctors
to call up patient records and by patients to order meals. But the
NHS never committed to pay for the extra facilities, which were not
used.
The company tried to recoup its outlay by raising charges. The
price of an outgoing call was capped by regulators at 10p a minute,
but the rate for incoming calls was raised to 49p a minute, and
patients were charged up to £3.50 a day for watching
television.
The rates provoked a backlash. Revenues dropped further when
many hospitals relaxed their bans on using mobile phones inside
wards.
The Patientline banking syndicate, the Royal Bank of Scotland,
HSBC Bank plc, Bank of Scotland, and IKB Deutsche Industriebank,
has formed a new company,
Hospedia, to buy the group's
assets. The deal is subject to approval by the
Office of Fair Trading.
The group will continue to operate more than 80,000 bedside
terminals at more than 200 NHS hospitals across Great Britain.
Tim Sherwood, Hospedia chairman, said: "This is great news not
only for patients and hospitals, but also for staff and suppliers.
Our goal is to rebuild consumer confidence in NHS bedside
entertainment systems.
"The restructured debt and new finance gives much needed
stability to the business, allows for the delivery of new
innovative services and gives a real opportunity to begin to
provide improved value for money".