To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has taken advice on the application of the Children Act 2004 and the Human Rights Act 1998 to the use of mobile telephones with cameras in hospital wards. (182893)

The Department issued revised good practice guidance to the national health service on the use of mobile telephones on health care premises in May 2007. The revised guidance offers a legal framework and an evidence base for trusts to use in compiling their own policy on the use of mobile phones on health care premises and makes specific reference to the provisions of the Children Act 2004 and the Human Rights Act 1998.

The guidance entitled “Using mobile phones in NHS hospitals” is available in the Library and is also on the Department’s website at

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074396

Guidance to the NHS on the use of mobile telephones on health care premises is kept under review.