Peter Barron was born in Saltburn, and raised in Middlesbrough. He joined The Northern Echo as a reporter in 1984, rising to become the paper's editor in January 1999.

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BEING in hospital is never a pleasant experience, but I am full of admiration for those who work so hard to make life more comfortable and dignified for patients.

My father, who is nearly 85, had to spend some time in James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough last week with a distressing condition.

He is already suffering from advanced macular degeneration of his eyes, which made his stay in hospital all the more difficult. It is hard enough adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings, worrying about what the future holds, when you can see. When you can't even pass the time away by watching television or reading, it is much worse.

Thankfully, the nursing staff were wonderfully understanding, caring and attentive.

My father is a man who doesn't praise easily, but he also reported that the food on offer would have done many a hotel proud.

Yet it struck me that there is a real problem facing NHS hospitals such as James Cook in the form of the inadequacy of a private company which provides telephone and television services to patients.

There is a Patientline monitor above every bed in James Cook and I wanted my father to have the comfort of his own telephone so that his family and friends could ring him for a chat to help pass the time and he could ring us if he was worried about anything.

I bought him a credit card from a Patientline machine, inserted it into his monitor, and then spent 20 minutes on the telephone, waiting for an operator to register him with his own number.

When I tested the number, it didn't work. That meant another 20-minute wait to report the fault to a Patientline operator who eventually informed me that nothing could be done until Monday "at the earliest".

Given that it was then early afternoon on a Saturday, I explained that my father may not even be still in hospital by Monday.

"I think you'll find, sir," said the operator, "that resources are stretched over a weekend whatever the service might be."

But illness isn't restricted to weekdays. Hospitals don't stop on Fridays - they go on admitting patients seven days a week.

It quickly became clear that I was going to get nowhere so I asked how I should go about getting back the £3.50 I'd spent on the credit card.

Thankfully, I hadn't opted for the £5 or £10 options.

I was told I had to write to Patientline's customer care department in Dumfries. I have done so, not because I need the £3.50, but because of the principle involved.

By then, I'd discovered that half the Patientline monitors on the ward weren't working and still had credit owing. How many people just give up trying to get their money back and how much is Patientline making as a result of its failings?

So far, there has been no response to my letter to customer care. Presumably, they don't care.

But those in charge of the otherwise admirable James Cook University Hospital should take note that Patientline is not making life more comfortable for patients - it is adding to their stress and anxiety.

And, quite frankly, I don't think that's good enough.

10:05am Monday 7th April 2008

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