Family’s shock at big hospital phone bill

Relatives of a patient at King's College Hospital in Camberwell got a huge phone bill for calling his premium-rate bedside phone after he was banned from using his mobile.

The family of Brixton IT worker Jeremy Bowen, 48, claim they were never warned they would be charged 65p per minute from their mobiles.

His elder sister, Philippa, was charged £53 for 81 minutes of talk time — double the cost of calling Portugal.

Borehamwood-based Hospicom operates the consoles, charging 10p a minute for outgoing calls and almost 35p per minute on incoming calls. The remainder of the 65p charge is the mobile phone firm premium rate.

Mick Wilkinson, director of Hospicom, said his firm used to have a warning but was told by Ofcom it was not necessary. Ofcom said this was for technical reasons.

The hospital said leaflets are provided outlining the cost: "We are sorry the family feel they weren't given sufficient information. The Trust receives no income from the system."