UK Health Program: a Very Sick Patient

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You wait ages for a failed IT project and then four come along at once

The failure of an IT project in the National Health Service is one of a number of failures in information technology recently. Other disasters are to be found at the Child Support Agency, the Prison Service and then of course there's "Barmy" Blunkett's wonderful Identity Card. It is interesting to speculate that these teetering, elephantine projects might never have happened had Tony Blair never discussed the benefits of large scale data storage projects with Bill Gates, since Tony Blair knows nothing whatever about information technology and never showed any interest in it at all.

The benefits of the proposed IT scheme in the Health Service were minimal -- to do with (a) passing data between specialists who collaborate closely anyway and (b) getting the case notes on a patient in an emergency. The first of these is adequately done by fax or email. The second doesn't work unless the patient has his CHI number on a bracelet or something, because patients taken to hospital in an emergency are often unconscious at the time. If the patient has to carry something, it might as well be a piece of paper giving his doctor's mobile number and a two-line summary of his condition.

Lastly, to correct the impression given by your headline, the Health Service works very well, and gives British patients far better care than they would get in the United States.

Posted by: k.r.johnson   Posted on: 05/05/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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