09 January 2009
By Graham Clews
NHS trusts should allow mobile phones to be used as widely as is safely possible in hospitals, the Department of Health has said.
Currently, individual trusts determine where mobile phones can be used in their hospitals. The DoH's new guidelines say the phones should be used everywhere unless there is a danger of interference with critical care equipment or patient privacy.
Advice on the safe use of mobile phones in hospitals is given by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. The DoH guidance stresses that mobile phones should still not be used where critical care equipment can be affected by electro-magnetic interference.
NHS trusts have been criticised for restricting the use of mobile phones in hospitals unnecessarily while making money from expensive bedside phones.
The government's Patient Power scheme, launched as part of the NHS Plan in 2000, promised to provide a bedside phone and television for every hospital patient. But private firms that provided the service were found to be overcharging.
The NHS Confederation warned trusts should be aware of the potential nuisance.
Policy director Nigel Edwards said: 'We need to ensure there is no free-for-all and that policies supported by patients and staff are put in place, such as quiet rooms and no-mobile zones.'
The British Medical Association welcomed the announcement, but warned that many newly built hospitals had poor mobile phone reception that could affect communication between doctors and other staff.
PFjan2009
