A FAMILY charged more than £20 to call the bedside phone of an ill relative in hospital want to make others aware of the costs.

Angela Coulson needed to call Hereford County Hospital when her fiancé’s 27-year-old son was admitted after a complication with his diabetes.

She made a 20 minute phone call to his hospital bedside phone, which looked like a mobile number beginning with 07.

But the family were horrified to discover the call cost them £21.37.

Miss Coulson, 52, said: "It is not a witch hunt. People just don't know about these numbers and they are getting caught out. It is just not right.

"We were so incensed by the charges. I can't be the only person that has been caught out by it. Most phone calls to these personal numbers are probably a lot shorter that they go unnoticed if they are just three to four minutes long- but that is three to four pounds."

The couple, who divide their time between Leominster and Lincolnshire, said the high telephone charges go alongside the "horrendous" parking charges.

They are being given a refund by the company which provides the service, Hospedia Limited.

Miss Coulson added that they did not ring his mobile as signal in the hospital is not very good in some areas.

She added: "I really think that this whole system needs a complete overhaul."

Fiona Gurney, spokesman for the Wye Valley NHS Trust, said: "Hereford County Hospital has in place a similar patient bedside television/telephone system to that used in many hospitals across the country.

"It is provided by Hospedia Limited and includes a customer care centre service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "It ensures that patients have access to a television/telephone at all times by their bedside."

She said when a new patient uses the system a customer care advisor will explain the charges, including those for incoming calls.

And when people call the phone, she said they are warned calls to the phone from a BT landline will cost at least 50p a minute and may be higher from mobiles.