The Department has set up a review group to consider the concerns that were set out in the case closure report from Ofcom, following its investigation into the price of telephone calls to hospital patients.The group will be chaired by Ms. Melanie Kay of the Department of Health. Its membership will include the providers of bedside communications and entertainment services, patient representation, and National Health Service trusts. The group will report later this year.The terms of reference for the group are as follows:PurposeThe patient power review group will be responsible for reviewing existing contracts with the NHS and service providers to identify ways of addressing the concerns expressed in the recent Ofcom investigation. In summary, these were to ensure that patients and the NHS get best value from the contracts while the service providers are not disadvantaged in the market place. The intention is to produce an agreed framework that would enable NHS trusts and the providers of the service to modify their existing agreements.Terms of Reference1. Review all aspects of the charging structure:Level of inbound call charges,Requirement to cap outbound call charges at the standard national call rate,The availability of some free television and radio, and free TV for children,Whether the cross subsidisation across the various services is appropriate or desirable,Whether it is appropriate for a recorded message to be played in its entirety at the outset of each and every call.2. Review the requirement to install, with limited clinical exceptions, units at every bedside within a hospital site, irrespective of use. Could this be altered in respect of all new installations and the repair and renewal ofunits already installed?3. Review the requirement to offer services through a combined unit, offering television and telephone and capable of offering added value services. It should consider not only the extent to which NHS trusts have made use of the added functionality (or could make use in the future) but should consider what the appropriate minimum standards should be for all future installations and renewals.4. Review and clarify the guidance issued by the Department in respect of NHS trusts exercising their own discretion in determining the local policy on the use of mobile phones in hospitals.

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