While the NHS' medical services remain free at the point of delivery, the costs of parking your car, making phone calls and watching TV can all mount up.
Last week, we highlighted the different approaches to charging for parking. This week, we looked at bedside phones and TVs - and we were deluged with e-mails.
Guy clocked up a �50 charge on the combined Patientline TV and phone system in just five days in hospital, after a motorbike accident.
Opening one e-mail alone cost him �4, because of the slow speed of the internet connection.
We also put some of your concerns to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. He told us he'd look into Breakfast viewers' complaints:
"The promise is that the medical treatment is free in hospital and of course people are not charged for the beds.
These are additional services from telephones to TV and parking.
"Each health authority has been making its own arrangements and I will of course look into it - but the meical services remain free at the point of need."
Background
One company which provides dedicated bedside phones to hospital patients is based Patientline.
It charges 10p per minute for outgoing calls, but incoming calls cost 39p off-peak and 40p during peak times. It also provides bedside TVs for patients - free for under 16s and half price for over 60s.
It says the cost of phone calls could be lower, if the NHS contributed towards the high cost of setting up its network. It's required to install a phone at every bedside, however uneconomic.
An all-party select committee of MPs which has been examining various NHS charges has ruled out the possibility of an NHS subsidy.
But it did conclude that overall, Patientline's services benefit patients, because it gives them a service which wasn't provided before.
In January, Ofcom closed its investigation into the cost of incoming calls: "without finding any infringement by Patientline and without requiring any remedial action".
The select committee also noted that: "Patientline has been pressing the Department of Health for action to encourage the wider use of these systems by the NHS trusts,
"both to improve the service offered by NHS acute hospitals and to permit a reduction in incoming call charges."
Patientline is one of a number of companies offering bedside phone services to hospital patients, including Premier and Hospicom which is supplied by HTS Ltd (Hospital Telephone Services).
Mobiles
The Countess of Chester hospital uses a slightly cheaper service from Hospicom. And it's lifted its total ban on using mobile phones, after lobbying from patients' groups.
Although not allowed near sensitive medical equipment and on wards, mobiles are allowed in the coffee shop, main corridors and reception area.
It's thought that the Deprtment of Health will announce a review of how the phone services are run.
Have you found your visit to hospital cost you more than you'd bargained for? Tell Breakfast about ANY unexpected costs associated with a hospital visit and we'll look into it.
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My husband was in hospital for 5 months, some distance from home... I ran up a bill of �650 with Patientline. There was concessionary parking though although it took some time to find out about it. 
