Some NHS patients will be able to use the web and email from their hospital beds under a scheme officially launched on Monday.

Six hospitals in England and one in Scotland are piloting the Patientline system.

The bedside terminals will not only offer web services for four pence a minute, but also telephone, television, and video games.

This represents a major step forward in providing patients with the most modern way of staying in touch

Alan Pearse, Kingston Hospital

Patients or their relatives will have to buy smart cards to operate the machines.

The cost will be �3.20 a day for the under-60s, and �1.60 a day for the over-60s.

Children will be able to watch all day for free, although the system is not routinely installed in children's wards.

Outgoing phone calls will cost slightly less than BT payphone rates - but relatives calling in will be hit with a 50p a minute charge.

NHS Plan

The scheme has been launched in response to a government pledge that all major hospitals should have bedside television and telephone services.

The company Patientline has met the full cost of installing the equipment, and will take back all the proceeds of the sale of smart cards to patients.

At Kingston Hospital NHS Trust in Surrey, 555 beds will have the terminals by the end of the month.

Other hospitals launching the scheme on Monday are the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Luton and Dunstable Hospital, Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, The Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, and Wycombe General Hospital in High Wycombe.

The internet service is carefully controlled to prevent access to what Patientline describes as "unsuitable for general viewing".

Emails with attachments - and downloading software from the web - will also be barred.

'Staying in touch'

Patientline's chief executive Jim Glover said: "In today's world, offering internet services is a natural extension to the other information and communications services we provide.

"We have been delighted by the readiness of NHS hospitals to embrace this new development."

Alan Pearse, the acting chief executive at Kingston Hospital, said: "This represents a major step forward in providing patients with the most modern way of staying in touch with family, friends and the world at large."

Mike Stone, from the Patients' Association, broadly welcomed the arrival of the bedside terminals - although he said that free television rooms should still be available for those patients willing to walk to them.

He said: "This is all about patient choice - as long as patients have that choice, it's a good thing."