At last, the ban on using mobile phones in hospitals has been lifted.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw has announced that the previous rules restricting the use of mobile is hospitals is to be relaxed, meaning an end to the practice of making patients pay through the nose to use the by-bed phone service – in some cases between 40 and 50 pence per minute.
It’s been feared in the past that the RF interference generated by a mobile phone when in transmit mode could cause interference affecting vital equipment, but given that most of this is well shielded from RF, concerns are largely unfounded, and the ruling is that it’s safe to use mobiles, at least in non-critical areas.
There are still concerns though – including privacy and “noise” pollution of having patients chatting away on mobiles, and silly ringtones drifting around wards.
Today, another concern has come to light – that mobile phones in hospitals are spreading nasties around hospitals, including the MRSA superbug – staff are used to scrubbing their hands and following hygiene guidelines, but mobile phones are notoriously hard to keep clean, handled by staff, and often passed around. Nasty.
