Hospital patients are paying 50p a minute to call loved ones more than a decade after promised crackdown that never materialised, an investigation has found.

The firm Hospedia, which runs bedside TV and phone services in NHS hospitals and made £21.2m in revenue last year, makes people call loved ones via costly 070 numbers, which were supposed to be phased out.

The charges vary from hospital to hospital, but an investigation by the Press Association found many sites are charging patients 50p a minute or more.

Callers are also forced to listen to a lengthy recorded message of about 70 seconds - which racks up charges before they are even connected to their loved one.

The message contains information already obvious to the caller, such as the fact the patient is in hospital, and tells callers to be "patient".