Willing to pay £10/£15 per day to watch television in hospital?

• PATIENTS who are very ill and have to spend weeks in hospital are being charged £10 a time per day if they want to watch television from 12pm to late evening. I understand this is happening in hospitals all over Britain.

A nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas had the confounded cheek to call me on my mobile three weeks ago and ask if I would be willing to pay £15 per day for my seriously disabled and gravely ill friend who has been in hospital for over four weeks now.

Do you think men and women suffering severe cancers or those affected with broken spines, injuries through accidents, violence, or hereditary causes, disc protrusion in backs, sciatica, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, HIV, acute paralysis, dementia and Alzheimer’s, not to mention severe depression, should be forced to pay this exorbitant daily sum? They desperately need some form of relief if only to pass the long hours away.

Millions are dependent on benefits. What in god’s name do you think the elderly and those with disabilities are going through?

I defy any MP in Britain to live in these conditions for eight weeks, let alone eight years. These patients are fully entitled to free television when they are compelled to stay in hospital.

I’m not so sure that the person or persons who brought this outrageous situation about, and inflicted suffering on countless victims, should not be given a prison sentence.

PAUL DE LACEY
Belsize Avenue, NW3