A woman was left fuming after being charged more than £11 to call her mum in hospital during the coronavirus crisis.
Irene Simpkin can't visit her 87-year-old mother Odile as Southport Hospital due to restrictions in place to stop the spread of the virus.
Odile has been at the hospital for around two weeks after suffering multiple pelvis and hip fractures in a fall.
Irene made a 16-minute call to her mum and said she was charged £11.33 for the call, through a service provided by private company Hospedia.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Simpkin said: “I thought that it was flipping outrageous, just horrendous. I just think it’s very, very greedy.
“There are so many people making concessions, why do these companies continue to cash in?
“While all this is going on, can they not just make some sort of a deal where they cut those costs?”
A service which provides TV and phone calls in hospitals was blasted as “heartless” after asking a trust to pay £10,000 a month to allow relatives to call patients for free.
Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals NHS Trust asked private firm Hospedia if calls to patients could be reduced or charged to the hospitals while strict visitor restrictions are in place as it battles the coronavirus outbreak.
Currently, visiting is not allowed at the hospitals in either town, aside from in certain situations involving women in labour and child inpatients.
West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper contacted the trust to ask about phone provisions after a constituent was charged £11 for phoning her elderly mother at Southport Hospital.
Irene Simpkin’s 87-year-old mother Odile has been at the hospital for around two weeks after suffering multiple pelvis and hip fractures in a fall.
She made a 16-minute call to her mum and said she was charged £11.33.
Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust, which has had to restrict visitors, told the BBC it would be charged nearly £10,000 a month to make the calls free for visitors.
The trust said it was disappointed with the company's suggested charges and has raised the matter with NHS England.
According to Hospedia’s website, its services are used at 130 NHS sites across the country and in 75% of acute hospitals.
It also says that it allows those in hospital to make calls without any cost, but charges 13p per minute for calls made to patients' phones.
Hospedia has now been accused of “cashing in” on the coronavirus crisis by Ms Cooper, who said she was “absolutely disgusted”.
The Labour MP said: “Businesses up and down the country are bending over backwards to support the effort, restaurants providing free meals, launderettes washing NHS workers’ clothes for free, but here we have Hospedia charging premium rates for phonecalls to inpatients and offering to take the charge off the public but only in return for £10,000 per month from the hospital.
"The NHS should end the contract with heartless profiteering Hospedia as soon as possible.
“At a time such as this when we are warning the public about potential scammers, it is clear we don’t have to look too far to see where some businesses are happy to make a quick buck while others suffer.
“I have brought this to the attention of the Health Secretary demanding that he urgently intervene so that families can get to speak to their loved ones who are in hospital without the worry of overly expensive phone bills.”
Hospedia was approached for comment.
