"Costs to patients and visitors"

I want to say at the start of this that I was most impressed by the care and warmth of the staff who looked after my sister on her recent stay in hospital. They have very demanding jobs with many pressures yet always seemed to put the patients first.

However, as a visitor I was horrified of the costs that can occur. The fees charged to park at the hospital were quite high and on a sliding scale of hours spent there. I was then more horified to discover the costs to the patient for having access to watching TV and using the phone. If a patient cannot afford this what do they do all day outside of visiting times. Surely just lying / sitting there all day with nothing to do can become quite depressing and not aid the patients recovery. I was quite disgusted by this.