A BLANKET ban on mobile phones at Oxford's major hospitals is being reviewed following Government intervention.

Managers at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, which oversees the city's John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals, and The Horton, Banbury, are rethinking their policy after Health Minister John Burnham announced there was "no reason" for an outright ban.

But they warned that using handsets in hospital was "not straightforward", and still interfered with some medical equipment and caused a nuisance.

The ORH started reviewing its mobile phone policy in October last year, but has failed to lift its ban on calls anywhere in its hospitals. Handsets are even forbidden in canteens.

As a result, patients have to rely on Patientline, the privately-run bedside system that charges up to 49p a minute.

Jacquie Pearce-Gervis, chairman of the ORH Patient and Public Involvement Forum, said: "We did a survey last year and it was absolutely overwhelmingly obvious that patients wanted to be able to use their phones in hospital.

"There were some pathetic stories, like elderly ladies who couldn't contact their families because they couldn't afford the Patientline phones."

The Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA) first announced mobiles were safe to use in hospitals three years ago, after research by Oxford-based registrars showed commonly-held fears that handsets impeded clinical machinery were unjustified.

Dr Saul Myerson and Dr Andrew Mitchell argued that only four per cent of hospital equipment suffered electromagnetic interference when within one metre of a mobile phone, compared to 35 per cent by hospital porter handsets and 41 per cent by radios used by the emergency services.

Dr Myerson, who is also an Oxford University lecturer, welcomed Mr Burnham's intervention and said: "It's long overdue and good that he's given it the backing it needs.

"I'd disagree that the Department of Health hasn't given the ORH guidance on this, because the MHPRA is one of its agencies and as such their last publication stated a blanket ban was unnecessary and unworkable."

An ORH spokesman said: "On the one hand, we realise many patients would like to be able to use mobile phones to contact friends or relatives. On the other hand, mobile phones interfere with some equipment, and may cause a nuisance in areas where patients are very sick, or trying to rest, or where staff need to concentrate. We are awaiting the updated guidance from the Department of Health."