BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | Hospitals to install pay TV

Patients being treated in three Northern Ireland hospitals may soon be asked to pay up front to tune in to their favourite TV soap.

The Royal Group of Hospitals in Belfast say they will be introducing the new pay-per-view system in two years' time.

Belfast City Hospital and Altnagelvin in Londonderry say they are also considering something similiar.

Patients who want to watch TV will be asked to purchase a pre-paid card which will also entitle them to make calls from a bedside phone.

Credit scheme

Charges to watch the five inch screen at each bed will vary from �2 per hour or a flat �20 weekly rate.

Patients staying overnight will be charged �3.50 but hospital authorities are also putting a system in place to facilitate those who cannot afford to pay to view.

Unused credit will be rebanked in a central pool which will then be redistributed among needy patients.

The system will come in when the new Royal Victoria Hospital opens to patients in 2002.

Hospital bosses have said viewing in day rooms will still be free and patients will also be allowed to watch breakfast tv without charge.

The entire scheme will cost approximately �1m to install in the Royal alone.

The NHS does not have that kind of money to spend on an entertainment system - so a private firm will pay and then take any profits which result.

Patient says new system will help him rest at night
There has been a mixed reaction among patients at the RVH to the proposal.

One man said he would prefer the new system as it would cut down on the noise factor at night.

"Other patients will be able to watch it using headphones," he said.

According to a female patient, the new system would have a number of advantages.

"It would be a lot handier in your bed," she said. "You won't have to go to the other end of the ward to watch television."

For many patients, however, keeping up to date with soaps would be a priority.

"If they're able to keep watching the soaps, it could help them," he said, pointing out that on some evenings, there were three and a half hours of continuous soap.


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