Andrew Lansley isn't most people's idea of bedside entertainment, so pity the patients in NHS hospitals across the country who are having to watch the health secretary addressing them every three or four minutes on monitors above their beds.

The Conservative cabinet minister's face appears on bedside entertainment systems on a continuous loop saying that their care "really matters to me" and asking them to thank NHS staff.

In some wards with multiple beds, the screens have the effect of a television showroom, reported the Independent.

It was reported that the only way to turn the health secretary's recorded message off, patients first had to register under a system which sees patients charged more than £5 a day to access TV, email and phone services – though those who just want to use the radio do not have to pay when they do so.

The health secretary accepted an invitation from the BBC Radio 4 Today programme in which he defended the "useful message" being conveyed to patients and confirmed that the system in place meant that patients first had to register before they could switch him off and listen to something more interesting instead.

But it appeared that Lansley was ill-versed in the system used in hospitals up and down the country and it was left to Hospedia, the company that provides the bedside screens, to point out that all patients had to do is press the off button on the TV.

A spokesperson for Hospedia said: "The video is included as part of a series of informational items, however once a patient registers with the system for free, the video is no longer displayed.

"Alternatively, if a patient does not wish to see the information videos and does not wish to register, the screen can be switched off as desired, using the off button on the front of the bedside unit."

Earlier, the health secretary had explained: "They can turn me off. They can also get the radio for free, and not see me. We've inherited this system from the past. To use the Hospedia system, people have to register, and obviously it's a pay as you go, so they do have to register, but as I say, if people want to use the radio, they can do so."

The Department of Health later clarified that the off button was also an option.

Lansley's message to patients replaces one made by his Labour predecessor, Andy Burnham. He says: "Hello, I'm Andrew Lansley, the health secretary. I just want to take a few moments to say that your care while you're here in hospital really matters to me. I hope it's as good quality care as we can possibly make it and I do hope you'll join me in thanking all the staff who are looking after you while you're here."

He told Today: "When people go into hospital, I hope one of the first things they realise is we want them to have as comfortable and as high quality a stay as possible. I want them to help join me in thanking the NHS staff and I particularly wanted to say if they had any feedback that would be really helpful, but I'd like to say, you're quite right."

He joked: "It can be even worse than you describe: there was someone in my constituency who said his baby's first experience of life was staring up at me on the monitor, which he found rather unnerving."