NHS in England gets £4 billion IT investment

[Plasmastorm]

£4billion huh, I'll head down the bookies tomorrow and see what the odds are for at least half of that going to MS for extended windows XP support lol.

[=assassin=]

I got a job in my local hospital in 2007, and at the time was told it was all going paperless within a couple of years. Fast-forward to 2016, and nothing has happened. In short: I'll believe it when I see it.

[OilSheikh]

Might as well invest in training British Doctors with that money rather than importing Doctors with dodgy certificates from 3rd world countries who do a 1 year course here and then become your Doctor!

Read an article yesterday about some Pakistani lady who is wanted by Interpol , yet she continues to be an anesthetic at Queens hospital Romford!

[chuckskull]

Might as well invest in training British Doctors with that money rather than importing Doctors with dodgy certificates from 3rd world countries who do a 1 year course here and then become your Doctor!

Read an article yesterday about some Pakistani lady who is wanted by Interpol , yet she continues to be an anesthetic at Queens hospital Romford!

Couldn't agree more. My local trust has been a bugger for doing this for years. I've had a couple who I'm pretty sure weren't actual Doctors. Including one who didn't know where the liver is(upper left enclosed by the ribs according to him and no he didn't have an answer to where my left lung would go) and another I had to explain the concept of a differential diagnosis to. A conversation we got onto because he hadn't heard of the DSM or ICD

I wish that Queens hospital story didn't ring so true.

[abaxas]

Stat from my time working with GPs (and the software that paid them).

If you want patching up/fixing go black, if you want to be referred go white. It's actually nothing to do with colour of skin just the background of where people came from that matters.

[Sumanji]

Including one who didn't know where the liver is(upper left enclosed by the ribs according to him and no he didn't have an answer to where my left lung would go)...

Anatomical right, but left as you look it...

[chuckskull]

Anatomical right, but left as you look it...

There was pointing; he believed my right lobe to be centred around my left nipple.

Like so;

[Sumanji]

That's unfortunate. Perhaps he thought you had situs inversus.

Either way, there's plenty of room for your lungs under there.

Although from your diagram, I would be rather more worried about where exactly your heart is...

[chuckskull]

That's unfortunate. Perhaps he thought you had situs inversus.

Either way, there's plenty of room for your lungs under there.

Although from your diagram, I would be rather more worried about where exactly your heart is...

No that's where he thought all livers were. I can assure I'm not mistaken. I've just checked and he no longer has his job, so I'm guessing I'm not the only one who complained about his incompetence.

[b0redom]

Perhaps somebody can explain to me the medical benefits of free WiFi? As nothing can be plugged in without PAT testing, it will not serve long-term patients, just visitors and those waiting in casualty for a strike to finish.

I would guess Wifi is so tablets (the electronic kind) can be used for patient records. Some bright spark probably decided that adding 'free' to it would be a great winner with the public who can now watch iPlayer while they wait for their appointment!

[b0redom]

It makes sense for patient records to be accessible from whatever hospital you happen to be admitted to, particularly if you have a chronic condition.

I have hospitals numbers for three trusts, and non can see my records of the others, and my GP can't see them either, resulting in letters flying to and fro and a whole load of unnecessary administrative tasks. How much simpler if my GP could see the results of tests, or that each hospital could see the results od previous tests, saving repetition.

The problem is the enormity of the database to hold this data (considering just how big an imaging file might be) and ensuring security (in all its aspects, availability, authenticity and confidentiality).

Sadly big IT infrastructure projects understandably generate bad press when they go wrong, but that is not a reason not to attempt it. Computer science is progressing, and unless something is done to automate processes, the NHS will continue to sink under he weight of paper records.

This is what I said last time on the NHS spine program. This is exactly what it was supposed to do. Unfortunately, the way that was managed and implemented was awful (speaking as someone who worked on it).

[Macman]

This is just going to make a number of folk rich and fatten the pockets. :/ And leave us muppets in longer q's when the systems fail.

[peterb]

This is just going to make a number of folk rich and fatten the pockets. :/ And leave us muppets in longer q's when the systems fail.

So what is the answer? Do nothing and go back to mountains of paper records that need secure storage, and leave us waiting while they are looked for, or worse, go missing permanently? Or waste time while yet another set of patient records are compiled?

I think our healthcare professionals deserve better than that, as do patients.

This is what I said last time on the NHS spine program. This is exactly what it was supposed to do. Unfortunately, the way that was managed and implemented was awful (speaking as someone who worked on it).

The problem is the management and implementation (as well as a tightly specified and controlled programme management. There have been some significant successes in Government IT systems, although not without initial teething problems. However the successes are rarely reported in the mainstream press.

(Sorry, I'm being reasonable again )

No that's where he thought all livers were. I can assure I'm not mistaken. I've just checked and he no longer has his job, so I'm guessing I'm not the only one who complained about his incompetence.

Did he say where the alfalfa beans and the chianti were?

[LeetyMcLeet]

The bullet points missed something:

* ~ £1 bn to cover the costs of all those middle management meetings (tea, coffee, etc.) and then further meetings about meetings and other meetings. No actual work. (source: someone I know at the NHS)

[peterb]

The bullet points missed something:

* ~ £1 bn to cover the costs of all those middle management meetings (tea, coffee, etc.) and then further meetings about meetings and other meetings. No actual work. (source: someone I know at the NHS)

So you have never worked in project management then?

[LeetyMcLeet]

There's a big difference in attitude (if that's the right word), between those in the private sector and those in the public sector though. Yes, these meetings are needed, of course they are, but those in the public sector MILK the hell out them. I know 3 people (two are family) who work in the sector and believe me, they waste ALOT of time milking these meetings. This would simply NOT happen in the private sector or people would lose their jobs.