HOSPITAL patients are being charged up to £10 a day to watch television.

The huge fees at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary have been highlighted after one angry customer forked out £40 just so her mother could watch a few hours of soaps.

Part of the current problem has been caused by the TV token machines being out of action.

In-patients at HRI are offered TV, internet and telephone services by a company called Hospedia.

But Almondbury resident Heather Garner branded the service a “rip off” and said she was dismayed that the fees continued while her 81-year-old mother, Joyce, was not watching television.

Miss Garner said she had asked for a refund as her mum had been unable to pause the service while she was sleeping during her week-long stay at the infirmary. She paid out £40 for one week.

She said: “When loved ones are in hospital we like to make it as much like home as possible.

“I went to get a voucher to activate the TV but the machine was out of order.

“When I asked for help they said it had been broken for weeks and didn’t know when it would be mended.

“They told me I could use my credit card, which is what I did.”

But Miss Garner said it had not been clear how much the service would drain from her card. She said: “It’s just eating up people’s money while they’re sleeping – you can’t turn it off.

“If someone had explained to me that it doesn’t switch off I would have just bought her a radio.

“I could have bought her a small TV for £40!”

Hospedia’s charges have previously been described as “unacceptable” by the Patients Association.

Katherine Murphy, spokeswoman for the association, said: “The companies that provide this service and the hospitals where they operate should provide clear information about the cost of the service to patients and the cheapest deals available in advance of paying any money.

“Patients should not have the stress of a big bill on top of their bad health.”

No-one from HRI was willing to comment on the price of the service, but a spokesman for Hospedia apologised for the confusion.

He said: “For the past few weeks we have been experiencing software issues with our vending machines in Huddersfield hospital, causing our customers to temporarily lose their credit.

“As a matter of convenience to our customers in this hospital we took the decision to decommission the vending machines to try and minimise any disruption to their service.

“Customers have the option to pay by credit/debit card and this is the preferred option by many. I’m sorry that in this case your reader has felt they were forced into paying by their card – this is certainly not our intention.

“I can only apologise that your reader felt it was not made clear that the packages run continuously.

“All of our marketing material, including leaflets, the vending machines and posters, all contain these details.”

The spokesman said there was a range of pricing packages, starting from two hours, which included free phone calls to landlines.

He added: “We appreciate that many patients feel it is unfair to have to pay for bedside entertainment services during a hospital stay.

“The Government initiative that instigated the installation of personal bedside systems for patients was designed to ensure that the NHS did not have to divert funds away from patient care in order to provide these services.

“It costs an average of £1.5m to install these systems within a hospital.

“In order for this to happen, private companies were approached to provide the equipment, installation, maintenance and staffing under the understanding that there would be a cost to patients to use the services.”