Elderly patient reveals his "lonely" experience and criticises "appalling" TV services at Northampton General Hospital

An elderly patient at Northampton General Hospital (NGH) has criticised the ‘cutting back’ of television services at the hospital.

The man, who the Chronicle & Echo has not named, said he and many other pensioners were often left ‘staring at walls’ because the free television service was scrapped.

He said: “It’s boring. Everything was switched off. Then, obviously, they realised what they had done so they turned it back on but it goes off again at midday, so all the afternoon entertainment you don’t get, you have to pay a minimum of £5 for the service.

“The thing is, you’ve got to use your debit cards and my question was, how can pensioners use cards on a TV screen?

"How many pensioners can use this? I’m not being nasty but a lot of pensioners would find that intimidating. It’s unfair.

"I’ve got a credit card but I haven’t brought it to hospital I’ve left it at home for safe keeping.

"There are pensioners in there who’ve got nothing to look at. It’s appalling, really, that they were just left there, staring at a wall with nothing to watch.

"I know what the problem is at NGH, it is understaffed and overworked; patients can be left for a long time doing nothing.”

The man said it became a ‘lonely’ experience and believes hundreds of patients are being affected.

He said: “It wouldn’t have just gone off in my ward, but every ward across the hospital.

"It’s a lonely experience, especially the ward I was in where a lot of them were elderly and don’t have much conversation and can only watch TV.

"The nature of the place, there’s nothing to brighten your days up, staff try their best but they are run off their feet.

"It’s all due to cutbacks.”

The man added: "I’m in Danetre now and there’s a lovely television on the wall.” He also said the staff were not as rushed off their feet as they were at NGH.

A spokeswoman for NGH NHS Trust said the television service has reverted to its pre-covid operating system.

The spokeswoman said: "Television services by the bedside were provided free of charge by the hospital during the COVID pandemic to support patients while visiting was restricted.

"As visiting restrictions have been lifted in most areas of the hospital, the television service will no longer be provided free of charge by the hospital.

"Patients are given the option to purchase additional options to increase viewing times or provide extra channels. This is based on patient choice and managed by an external provider.

"There are free services available to all patients with a bedside unit which were in place before the pandemic including free radio, free television between 8am to midday and free phone calls to 01,02 and 03 numbers,” the NGH spokeswoman added.

"Our teams on the wards also support patients with other free enrichment activities such as board games, books or ward activities."

Northampton General Hospital recently unveiled its new 'game-changing' £16million 'state of the art' critical care unit.

Click here to read the Chronicle & Echo’s report about the new unit.