By . Claire Bates . Last updated at 2:00 PM on 22nd November 2011 . Looming Mr Lansley: 'I hope it's as good quality care as we can possibly make it' Hospital patients are being forced to endure a 'welcome message' from Health Secretary Andrew Lansley projected into wards on a continuous loop. The Cabinet minister's face appears on bedside TVs saying that their care 'really matters to me' and asking them to thank NHS staff. The Big Brother message can be turned off if patients register on the entertainment system, which gives them free radio access. The daily rate for TV and email services is £5. Mr Lansley's subtitled message, which replaces one made by his Labour predecessor Andy Burnham, goes: '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.' According to the PR company Tetra strategy the video is seen by up to 10 million patients a year in over 150 hospitals. It comes just weeks after a damning Patients Association report revealed a catalogue of abuse by NHS staff. The charity compiled a dossier of . 16 distressing hospital cases based on accounts by either relatives or the . patients themselves, but said it has been made aware of hundreds of . examples from calls to its helpline. The bedside entertainment system can cost £2.50 for a couple of hours . They said nurses have refused to give painkillers . to dying patients, while relatives were so concerned at the lack of care . for their loved ones that they stayed on the wards round the clock. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme today, the Health Secretary insisted his TV role put across 'a useful message'. Mr Lansley said: '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,' he said. 'It can be even worse - one constituent told me their baby's first experience of life was to see me on a monitor, which he found rather unnerving. He wasn't sure about the baby.' One man visiting an elderly relative, . told The Independent: 'It was eerie. Everywhere you looked there was . Andrew Lansley. My mother-in-law had to keep topping up the machine just . to escape him.' Mr Lansley said patients would need to register to switch him off, but a spokesman for Hospedia - which runs the service - . said the video could also be switched off using a button on the front of the screen. The company provoked fury in 2009 when increased the daily cost of the system from £2.90 to up to £7.
'Your care really matters to me,' Andrew Lansley proclaims in recorded message .
By . Claire Bates . Last updated at 2:00 PM on 22nd November 2011 . Looming Mr Lansley: 'I hope it's as good quality care as we can possibly make it' Hospital patients are being forced to endure a 'welcome message' from Health Secretary Andrew Lansley projected into wards on a continuous loop. The Cabinet minister's face appears on bedside TVs saying that their care 'really matters to me' and asking them to thank NHS staff. The Big Brother message can be turned off if patients register on the entertainment system, which gives them free radio access. The daily rate for TV and email services is £5. Mr Lansley's subtitled message, which replaces one made by his Labour predecessor Andy Burnham, goes: '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.' According to the PR company Tetra strategy the video is seen by up to 10 million patients a year in over 150 hospitals. It comes just weeks after a damning Patients Association report revealed a catalogue of abuse by NHS staff. The charity compiled a dossier of . 16 distressing hospital cases based on accounts by either relatives or the . patients themselves, but said it has been made aware of hundreds of . examples from calls to its helpline. The bedside entertainment system can cost £2.50 for a couple of hours . They said nurses have refused to give painkillers . to dying patients, while relatives were so concerned at the lack of care . for their loved ones that they stayed on the wards round the clock. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme today, the Health Secretary insisted his TV role put across 'a useful message'. Mr Lansley said: '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,' he said. 'It can be even worse - one constituent told me their baby's first experience of life was to see me on a monitor, which he found rather unnerving. He wasn't sure about the baby.' One man visiting an elderly relative, . told The Independent: 'It was eerie. Everywhere you looked there was . Andrew Lansley. My mother-in-law had to keep topping up the machine just . to escape him.' Mr Lansley said patients would need to register to switch him off, but a spokesman for Hospedia - which runs the service - . said the video could also be switched off using a button on the front of the screen. The company provoked fury in 2009 when increased the daily cost of the system from £2.90 to up to £7.
goes: 'Hello, I'm Andrew Lansley, the Health really matters to me. 'I hope it's as good