War on rip-off hospital calls

OFCOM is set to clamp down on expensive phone numbers for direct calls to hospital patients.

Calls to bedsides cost about 50p a minute with callers also charged for listening to a lengthy recorded message.

The watchdog’s proposals, presented to the European Commission for comment, say the 070 numbers could soon be regulated in the same way as standard mobile phone tariffs, the Daily Telegraph reported.

MP Tim Farron has previously branded the charges ‘a total rip off’. He has said: ‘Hospitals and these businesses are treating the sick as cash cows.’