NHS Patients Shouldn’t Pay for Hospital Entertainment

Currently, NHS patients have to pay £7.90 a day for entertainment on their bedside units. This model needs to change — NHS funding is the most effective way to make it happen. 

The NHS pays for other patient care services funded by the Government, so why is patient entertainment and engagement not considered a part of this? 

If the NHS modernises its bedside units, it’ll provide its patients access to various apps to aid their bedside care. These apps benefit not only the patient but also the staff and NHS Trusts themselves.

Funding should be given to provide patient engagement, education, entertainment and communication through innovative and easy-to-use technology. If the NHS pays for this, the patient doesn’t have to.

Digital Transformation for the NHS

Over 20 years ago, £150,000,000 worth of infrastructure was provided to the NHS free of charge by Hospedia. This money was used to install 54,000 bedside units in 160 hospitals. With these units being provided free of charge, a ‘patient-pays’ model was critical to keep the services running, but this model needs to change. 

With the constant development of what new technology is capable of, these 50k+ units are steadily becoming outdated and outmoded. Nowadays, they’re comparable to a basic service rather than the high-quality experience patients deserve. 

When SPARK® TSL’s parent company acquired Hospedia, we set out our vision to provide free entertainment to patients.

We want to work with the NHS and their charities to allow patient entertainment to be free on the current bedside units. Else they can modernise these old units and upgrade to SPARK® Media Bedside Units. This new age of bedside units provides access to applications. This includes streaming services, NHS resources, games, TV, radio and more. Most importantly, it'll all be free for patients.  

The SPARK® Media Platform

The SPARK® Media Platform allows the NHS to host a wide variety of apps through a single device at the point of care. With investment from NHS trusts, patients will see a new state-of-the-art bedside unit running the market-leading SPARK® Media software. 

From patient-focused apps to clinical support, Electronic Patient Records and more, patient entertainment and engagement can be vastly improved by the NHS investing in this new technology. 

Thanks to Hospedia, the managed infrastructure for this transformation is already there. This means no additional cost has to arise from upgrading these units to support this new system.

Patients will go from a charge of £7.90 a day for entertainment to a completely free solution that entertains, educates and engages patients, making life easier for staff and benefiting the Trust and their Charities. 

Supporting Our Vision

SPARK® TSL's vision is to make all patient entertainment free, but there’s still a long way to go. That’s why we’ve created several options that will help us reach our goal. 

Part of the plan includes a partnership with NHS Trusts to replace these old bedside units with new ones called SPARK® Media BSU. These solutions are ideal for running the SPARK® platform and providing patients with the entertainment and engagement they deserve. 

Download our product brochure to learn more.