PRISONERS are paying less to catch up on their favourite television shows than public hospital patients on the Coast.

A relative of a Woodford Correctional Centre worker told the Daily he was left appalled after a recent Nambour General Hospital visit where he learnt it would cost his partner $10 per day to hire a TV in a birthing suite.

Woodford Correctional prisoners pay only $2 per week for the right to tune in.

"I think it's a joke. It's disgusting," the man said of what he described as an injustice.

"Women are in there giving birth and they need something to relax.

"If they want to watch TV, they should.

"Paying for TV is not something I've seen before in hospitals."

Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service acting chief operating officer Piotr Swierkowski said both free-to-air and pay-TV television services were provided to patients of Nambour General Hospital through a contract with national company Hospital Television and Telephone Rentals (HTR).

Televisions were available to patients on a daily or weekly basis.

Patients had to contact HTR directly for access to the channels.

The service costs $10 per day or $54 weekly, with a small discount to pensioners and healthcare cardholders, Dr Swierkowski said.

A spokeswoman for Queensland Corrective Services said prisoners at Woodford were charged relative to their weekly earning capacity.

A HTR spokesman said the company believed commenting on the issue to the media would be inappropriate.

However, a HTR employee confirmed the cost to patients and said the company charges were among the lowest in Australia for similar services.