A CARER has branded a phone service a "tax on the sick" after she was left with a hefty bill following her mother's stay in hospital.

Alison Ransom said she was she shocked to receive the £79 bill for calls made by her mother Rachel through the Patientline service at Southampton General Hospital.

With premium rate charges of up to 49 pence a minute at peak times the cost of the calls quickly escalated.

Alison, who cares for her 75-year-old mum at their home in Heather Road, Fawley, said: "Our dad died in hospital last year so it was important for us to reassure mum while she recovered from her hip replacement operation.

"When the bill came through I laughed as I could not believe it.

"This was her lifeline to the family and I think Patientline exploited that to make money. It's disgusting.

"Patientline has too much of a hold on patients and the service. If some competition was introduced then maybe it would make it better for the patients."

The 39-year-old, who is herself disabled and claims incapacity benefit, said she was dumbfounded at how twice daily phone calls over five days could have cost so much and is now being forced to transfer the bill to a credit card and pay it off in instalments.

Patientline spokesman David Murphy said the phone charges were necessary to cover the £1,800 cost of buying, installing and maintaining each multimedia Patientline machine.

The service allows patients to choose whether to use the phone, TV, e-mail and computer game facilities while allowing staff to record patient data and take meal orders Mr Murphy said: "Patientline still has a total debt of £90m and our first priority is to resolve this debt. We hope to resolve this in the next financial year then we will be in a position to look at the cost of calls."

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust was one of the first trusts in the country to introduce the 49p-a-minute peak rate service, which has since been accused of taking advantage of a captive market.

A trust spokesman said: "The Patientline service, which is provided at no cost to the NHS, has operated for many years, allowing patients to make and receive direct dial phone calls from their family and friends, as well as watch TV and listen to the radio.

"The trust is constantly looking at ways of further improving the patient experience across the hospital and, as part of this, holds regular discussions with Patientline about the service provided."