NHS in England gets £4 billion IT investment

[HEXUS]

Investment areas: going paperless, free Wi-Fi , cyber security, NHS website revamp.

Read more.

[Ironbuket]

NHS and IT, we all know what is going to happen. I predict at least half of that money will be wasted on systems that get dumped before being rolled out.

[KrisWragg]

So these contracts will go to the likes of Fujitsu-Siemens, Cap Gemini etc, they will go massively over these already mad budgets... and then won't work at the end.

It boggles the mind how they fail to ever get things done properly.

[abaxas]

Having worked on the previous attempt, all I can say is 'good luck'.

[Moby-Dick]

I'm sure there will be some contractors that will ride yet another public sector gravy train....

[Jonj1611]

Have seen this all before, will end up way over budget and probably not finished at all.

[shaithis]

£4b to be wasted on a bespoke IT system while patients wait in huge queues and doctors talk about striking.

Glad they got their funding in order.....

[Corky34]

When the Government is pushing ahead with I'll thought out and invasive investigatory powers the last thing i want are for my medical records in the digital realm.

[amdavies]

When the big companies donate to political parties, it's not because they've suddenly discovered altruism. They're fully expecting to make money from it and guess who pays ?

Public payments, private profits.

[chuckskull]

Of course, soon Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will get a few bil each for theirs and then we'll have 4 totally separate IT systems and need to spend another few bil to join all together and of course in the mean time the government will change(c'mon you know this isn't taking less than a decade) decry Tory waste and cancel the whole thing again.

In the meantime areas that don't create jobs for the boys, y'know actual healthcare will remain dangerously poor;

Eldest brother's dad dead because the nurse "didn't have time" to find out what kind of diabetic he was after his stroke and just shot him full of insulin,

Mate's wife waited 2 weeks for a prescription for painkillers for her fractured vertebrae, her husband ended up buying some off a local dealer. Not to mention however long they left her with a spinal fracture she'd been going about the back pain for months,

Mum left with life changing injuries and MRSA because appendicitis was too difficult a condition to diagnose within a week in a former nurse who walked in and stated "I have appendicitis" and cleaning is still beyond them,

Best mate given antibiotics for renal failure. Thankfully he survived but it was so close his mum was told to say good bye to her comatose son, the doctor said he'd never seen someone survive with such high potassium levels,

All this in the last couple of years which brings it onto me, the mental patient; during part of this the stress pushed me over the edge and I suffered a psychotic episode a few days after i'd recovered(with no help from them, despite my family begging and a couple of ambo's), I got a phone call, threatening to section me if I didn't see a consultant, (not my consultant the one I trust, no he resigned in disgust). I agree and am given an appointment in 3 months time. 3 months for someone they consider so dangerous he needs sectioning.

Cherry on top; when I finally see my new consultant, who barely speaks English, gets my name wrong and his first question "Why are you here?", "Because you threatened to deny my freedom if I didn't come!". Within 5 minutes of meeting me; he comes to the conclusion that I've been misdiagnosed my whole life and actually I don't have any serious conditions. Apparently I just have anger management issues. I mean why else would I be so angry with them? What I really need is breathing exercises.

In case you were wondering, no I'm not seeing him again and my trust is now in special measures.

Disgrace, but yeah free wifi and replacing the fax machines with email that'll totally fix it.

[ik9000]

I can think of better ways to spend £4bn. You know, maybe on doctors or hospitals or ambulances or stuff like that. Or given that £250k per month to run an air ambulance... that's a fleet of air ambulances around the country for a few years.

[peterb]

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.

[Lanky123]

I'm in a charitable mood today so I think the proposed upgrades sound very sensible and plausible now that technology makes them feasible. Should we judge a sensible idea in advance by the almost certain incompetence in the implementation that is to follow?

[aidanjt]

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.

Even moving patients between wards in the same hospital generates a small pile of paperwork.

[Brian224]

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.

As to the remainder of the expenditure, does anybody believe it will be £4bn after a couple of false starts and all of the likely overruns?

[peterb]

Even moving patients between wards in the same hospital generates a small pile of paperwork.

Indeed, so anything that reduces the beaurocracy for clinical staff allowing them to do their primary function is to be welcomed.

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.

As to the remainder of the expenditure, does anybody believe it will be £4bn after a couple of false starts and all of the likely overruns?

Well if you have ever spent a long time in hospital...

Private equipment does not have to be PAT tested (PAT testing is not a legal requirement anyway). And there are benefits if patients can keep in touch with families etc. Many hospitals have WI-FI anyway, both for patients and for clinical staff, so the cost of extending that will be minimal.