Hundreds of patients at Bradford Royal Infirmary can now switch on to bedside television and private telephones through a new £1 million system.

The Patientline system gives patients access to 17 satellite and terrestrial TV channels, five radio stations, a telephone and a personal telephone answer machine through a unit at their bedside.

Almost 500 beds at BRI have been fitted with the system, which enables them to call from their bedside rather than waiting to use trolley payphones, and at least another 250 beds are set to benefit from it in the future.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which is forecasting an £11.3 million deficit by the end of next month, has not had to pay installation or operating costs.

The costs have fallen to Patientline itself, which gets its money back by charging patients for TV and outbound calls, and patients' friends and relatives for inbound calls.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals' chief executive David Jackson said: "Previously we could offer only a limited number of TVs with several patients sharing one television.

"Obviously this was not ideal because it meant patients often could not watch their favourite programmes; while those who preferred not to watch TV had to put up with the sound and distraction.

"Patients not only have a choice of entertainment but they also have the convenience of a personal telephone. Formerly they would have had to walk to a corridor payphone or wait for a payphone to be wheeled to their bed."

Each terminal is equipped with earphones so patients do not disturb others in the ward and if an incoming call is not answered after six rings, it is picked up by the answer-phone service.

Director of hospital services Rose Stephens said: "This is not an investment the hospital itself could have made. The scarce resources available to the Trust need to be spent on direct patient care.

"While the Patientline system will provide patients with a choice previously not available, they will continue to be able to watch conventional televisions in ward day rooms and use corridor payphones if they wish."

The Trust hopes the system will mean less non-clinical work for nurses who previously had to answer calls from friends and family.

Patientline chairman Derek Lewis said: "The system is already installed in more than 138 other hospitals around the country and we have found patients really appreciate the additional choice and convenience of having their own television and telephone."