CASH-STRAPPED hospital bosses have hit out at a phone company which took 90 days to settle a £250,000 bill.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust is faced with major money worries and has confirmed redundancies could be on the cards to plug a £11.7 million hole in its finances.

And Trust bosses are understood to be furious over a delay in payment from communications firm Patientline which supplies phone lines, televisions, music and internet access to more than 150 hospitals in England.

The Trust said the company, which has been investigated by The Department of Health over its prices, took nearly three months to cough up just short of a quarter of a million pounds it owed it.

The Trust had been "actively pursuing" Patientline, for cable and phone line installation work at Blackburn's Queen's Park Hospital it commissioned on the company's behalf, a source said.

A spokesman for Patientline stressed the money had now been "sent to the trust" but would not comment further.

The news comes during a difficult time for the company.

In January the communications watchdog the Office of Communications, Ofcom, said the Department of Health must look into all hospital phone systems as prices appeared "to be borne disproportionately by friends and family calling patients in hospital".

Over the last year Patientline has seen its value fall by 80 per cent and has failed to make a profit for the last five years.

Last week its chairman Derek Lewis stepped down, two days before a shareholders' meeting called amid growing investor unrest.

Patientline calls are up to five times more expensive than a BT payphone with people contacting their loved-ones charged a minimum 20p per minute.

External telephone calls to patientline handsets are 49p per minute in peak periods and 39p off peak. Patients must also pay £3.50 a day to watch television.

An East Lancashire Hospitals Trust spokeswoman confirmed the outstanding cash was finally in the bank.

"I am pleased to confirm that the issue regarding the outstanding payment for installation work at Queen's Park Hospital for Patientline has now been resolved. The Trust has received a cheque for the full amount of £246,922 and 73 pence," she said.