Circumventing Patientline
 

tim.... wrote:

not when you've got to get there at 7am as a "day in-patient", there isn't

Most places you can use the patient transport service. And a cab can
cost less than the hospital parking charge.

Bill

Circumventing Patientline
 

Norman Wells wrote:

Not if you deduct board and lodging costs. Even if you pay for an
unnecessary TV in hospital, you'll still be well in pocket over staying
at home providing your own heating, lighting, food and drink.

You still have to pay rent and rates and standing charges for the house
even when you're away in hospital.

Bill

Circumventing Patientline
 

In message , Bill Wright
writes
Norman Wells wrote:

As regard the provision of TVs, I think the bearing on medical
outcomes is too tenuous to merit serious consideration for free
provision. What is it with mean and miserable patients who resent
paying just the price of a pint or two for TV when they're receiving
all their other facilities, including food, drink and endless pretty
nurses, entirely free of charge?

The problem with Patientline (et al) is that the charges are too high
and the tellys are crap.

Bill

Not to mention the overall installation quality. I'm can't say which
provider it was, but certainly the same idea as Patientline.

I had a call to a hospital that complained that the UHF paging system I
looked after was knocking out the TV distribution system that they had
just fitted. Fair enough these things can happen, so off I trotted to
take a look. I wish I had taken a camera.

The company that had fitted it had used the cheapest contract aerial I
had ever seen and mounted it on the side of a plant room on the roof of
the hospital. So far not the end of the world.

They must have had a weak signal because there was a rather cheep
looking domestic pre amp cut into the coax just inside the room, this
then fed via about 10' of coax into an equally cheep looking 6 way
distribution amp. OK not looking too good now.

I think the root of the problem was the 6dB omni collinear directly in
front of their yagi that I was feeding 50W of 454MHz into. :-)

I explained the facts of life to the estates guys and commented on the
lack of intelligence and professionalism of the TV aerial riggers, there
are some strange ones out there you know........... Also the fact that
the paging had been there for 20+ years and had gained squatters rights
and was not moving!!

I don't know what the outcome was, but I didn't get called back for the
problem again!

--
Bill

Circumventing Patientline
 

On 18/03/12 21:03, tim.... wrote:
"Norman wrote in message
...
tim.... wrote:
"Norman wrote in message
...
Brian Gaff wrote:
Yes I had to laugh the other day when an ex chief exec of a hospital
trust said exactly that after coming out of hospital. One assumes as
she had been in charge she must have been party to the installation
in the first place. Double standards or what? Its almost as bad as
hospital car parking charges. Brian

There's another way of looking at those, though. Why shouldn't
hospital patients and their visitors pay a little bit more for
facilities that they are the ones using? They're the ones who are
benefitting from the medical treatment after all, and a substantial
proportion of the money raised goes back into hospital funds.

wrt to parking you're going to get the same answer that I posted the
last time that this was asked.

There are many cases where hospitals have moved from (expensive),
easy to get to, town centre locations to cheaper out of the way edge
of town locations which are only accessible by car.

I doubt if any hospital is really accessible only by car. In my
experience, there are _always_ bus routes serving them.

not when you've got to get there at 7am as a "day in-patient", there isn't


Why 7AM? I was offered an ENT appt. for late morning which could not be
made by bus (over 2.5 hours and 2 changes and return before arriving -
one of the bus routes has now been discontinued), though possible by
train/bus (about 90 mins) or car (about 30 mins). The stupidity is
compounded when, to get there by bus it was a 4 min walk to the bus-stop
at the local hospital which has an ENT department (with appropriate
clinic)! After a *lot* of hassle, I eventually had the 4 min walk.

--
PeeGee

"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)

Circumventing Patientline
 

"Norman Wells" wrote in message
...
tim.... wrote:
"Norman Wells" wrote in message
...
Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Norman Wells
wrote:

The alternative is for the NHS to become a car park company
establishing and running free or subsidised car parks all over the
place not only for the patients but their sisters and their cousins
and their aunts as well. If there are limited funds available to
the NHS, as there always are, isn't it better that those funds
should be spent on medical facilities rather than running car
parks?

Its a nice rhetorical question, based on a presumed dichotomy. But
the reality is that such 'non medical' things may well have an
impact on the medical side, and the outcome, and how soon people
can get back to being involved in society. Life isn't always as
simple as the rhetorical questions politicians like to 'ask'.

I don't think car parking charges have any bearing whatsoever on
medical outcomes. People, whether patients or visitors, shouldn't
therefore begrudge paying them, which will inevitably represent only
a tiny fraction of the cost of the treatment.

As regard the provision of TVs, I think the bearing on medical
outcomes is too tenuous to merit serious consideration for free
provision. What is it with mean and miserable patients who resent
paying just the price of a pint or two for TV when they're receiving
all their other

I think the objection is to the level of charge.

Getting a bill that's the same order of magnitude as buying a new TV
for a 2 week stay just shows that the costs of provision are
over-inflated.

Not if you deduct board and lodging costs. Even if you pay for an
unnecessary TV in hospital, you'll still be well in pocket over staying at
home providing your own heating, lighting, food and drink.

No I won't. I still have to pay my rent when I'm in hospital and if I go in
a rush won't have had time to turn off the heating (and if it's really cold
outside wouldn't be able to). This idea that people "save" on their home
bills when in hospital is nonsense!

And the cost of food for a few days is trivial (it only costs so much in
accounting terms because someone else is preparing it in someone else's
kitchen).

tim

Circumventing Patientline
 

"Norman Wells" wrote in message
...
tim.... wrote:
"Norman Wells" wrote in message
...
tim.... wrote:
"Norman Wells" wrote in message
...
Brian Gaff wrote:
Yes I had to laugh the other day when an ex chief exec of a
hospital trust said exactly that after coming out of hospital.
One assumes as she had been in charge she must have been party to
the installation in the first place. Double standards or what?
Its almost as bad as hospital car parking charges. Brian

There's another way of looking at those, though. Why shouldn't
hospital patients and their visitors pay a little bit more for
facilities that they are the ones using? They're the ones who are
benefitting from the medical treatment after all, and a substantial
proportion of the money raised goes back into hospital funds.

wrt to parking you're going to get the same answer that I posted the
last time that this was asked.

There are many cases where hospitals have moved from (expensive),
easy to get to, town centre locations to cheaper out of the way edge
of town locations which are only accessible by car.

I doubt if any hospital is really accessible only by car. In my
experience, there are _always_ bus routes serving them.

not when you've got to get there at 7am as a "day in-patient", there
isn't

Then pay to park there for goodness sake, or get a friend or neighbour to
take you in if you're that mean.

Honestly, some people are just hopeless. #

we are discussing the principle, not whether I can afford it

and IMHO the principle is WRONG, for the reasons that I have stated, which I
will repeat:.

it is wrong for the health authority to move to an out of the way location
to save money and then REFUSE to use some of that savings in providing free
parking.

Please discuss (with me) the point that I have made and not an entirely
different one that you have made up!

tim

Circumventing Patientline
 

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
John Rumm wrote:

ISTM most unreasonable for somebody (anybody), offering a monopoly
service,
to move to an out of the way location for *their* convenience and then
charge the people that they have forced an inconvenient journey upon to
get
to them, to pay to park as a revenue stream.

ISTM its also most unreasonable that people expect all the care and
facilities that modern medicine can provide to be made available in
outdated small buildings based in town where expansion is a costly,
complex, and bureaucratic minefield...

You can't have it both ways with regard to location. The same logic
applies to supermarkets etc.

It's far better to build hospitals on out-of-town sites. Cheaper land and
acres of parking. And there's always a shuttle bus from other sites and
the town centre.

no there isn't (always).

Circumventing Patientline
 

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
tim.... wrote:

not when you've got to get there at 7am as a "day in-patient", there
isn't

Most places you can use the patient transport service.

Only if you know about it.

No-one have ever included a description whenever I've had an appointment.

And as someone who isn't on benefits I wouldn't even think of looking, just
in case.

And a cab can cost less than the hospital parking charge.

Not for a "day" visit it doesn't.

tim

Circumventing Patientline
 

PeeGee wrote:

Why 7AM? I was offered an ENT appt. for late morning which could not be
made by bus (over 2.5 hours and 2 changes and return before arriving -
one of the bus routes has now been discontinued), though possible by
train/bus (about 90 mins) or car (about 30 mins). The stupidity is
compounded when, to get there by bus it was a 4 min walk to the bus-stop
at the local hospital which has an ENT department (with appropriate
clinic)! After a *lot* of hassle, I eventually had the 4 min walk.

Get a cab.

I can't see why the bus pass can't be used to offset cab costs on
hospital trips.

Bill

Circumventing Patientline
 

tim.... wrote:
"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
tim.... wrote:

not when you've got to get there at 7am as a "day in-patient", there
isn't
Most places you can use the patient transport service.

Only if you know about it.

You really do have to be prepared to help yourself in these matters.

Bill