Patientline blames losses on ward closures

Patientline has announced yearly losses of £24.7m before tax, which the company has blamed on ward closures and the recent Ofcom investigation into its charging structure.

Geoff White, the recently-appointed chairman of Patientline, said: "The group has been through a very challenging period, involving not only difficult trading conditions but also an investigation by Ofcom into the level of charges for incoming calls and whether its agreements with NHS trusts infringed competition law."

Shares in the company reached a record low of 9.5p after the announcement. They peaked in early 2002 at 230p.

Ofcom, the independent telecoms and broadcasting regulator, announced its enquiry into Patientline and another hospital provider, Premier Managed Payphones, in July last year, causing Patientline to immediately suspended new installations of its system in hospitals.

In its investigation, Ofcom described the high charges as a consequence of government policy and the license terms set by the DH. Individual hospitals do not pay to have the TV and phone systems installed, but they are expected to pay for themselves through subscription and phone charges. The DH has now formed a review group as a result of the investigation.

A further problem, said the company, was that publicity generated as a result of the investigation meant that patients and families were less inclined to use the phone services, which can cost up to 49p to call into and 10p to call out from. The average revenue per terminal installed in the UK was £1.73.

White joined Patientline from healthcare IT software house iSoft in early April after the previous chairman, Derek Lewis, was removed from the board.