Are Fax Machines outdated now?

[gavgav]

[QUOTE 5465734, member: 9609"]Oh well, No doubt that change over will cost about 1.9 billion and take at least 5 years to implement, during which period they will loose the patient records of 200,000 people.[/QUOTE]

I work in an NHS patient records environment and in the 12 years I’ve been there I haven’t used, or even seen a fax machine! There is a fine alternative called NHS Mail, which has already been in place for many years and has an encryption built into it, if used properly (not CC to the whole country )!

I dread to think what else these trusts, who are still using fax machines, are doing, with patient care, if they are so far behind the times on something as simple as this.

 

[gavgav]

High time they went. Have asked Mrs 73 about this and yes the NHS use them all the time. She tells be mostly for internal stuff. I mean the mind boggles time to get a grip.

If back in the early day's of computers if the land registry was able to go over to electronic deeds then it's not rocket science to move away from fax machines. Saying that the NHS think it's gone modern to have a PC on a trolley that the poor old nurse has to drag round along with the drugs trolley and all in double quick time before the battery dies. That's if it's even been on charge in the 1st place. As for legal stuff again the land registry has shown the way and now has started having buyer and seller paper work being all electronic inc signatures.

Seriously?! I hope I never get ill in the vicinity of that trust. Even in rural Shropshire we’ve had mobile technology (tablets and laptops) on the wards and out in the community for the past 2 years +

 

[Markymark]

Oooooooooeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooo....ooiihheeiihhhhooiieehhhhhooiiieehhhooooohhhhiiiiiihhhh

 

[classic33]

Oooooooooeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooo....ooiihheeiihhhhooiieehhhhhooiiieehhhooooohhhhiiiiiihhhh

Once again, in english.

 

[midlife]

I work in an NHS patient records environment and in the 12 years I’ve been there I haven’t used, or even seen a fax machine! There is a fine alternative called NHS Mail, which has already been in place for many years and has an encryption built into it, if used properly (not CC to the whole country )!

I dread to think what else these trusts, who are still using fax machines, are doing, with patient care, if they are so far behind the times on something as simple as this.

I have an e mail ending.nhs.co.uk which is not secure and I can't use patient identifiable data on it unless it goes as an encrypted document which is a pain.

Not everybody has an email ending nhs.net which is the supposedly secure email system.... And there is zero chance of me getting one.

 

[Proto]

Great film explaining how they work by Tim Hunkin, The Secret Life of the Fax Machine

I used to love his cartoons in The Observer and his films. Great fun and very enlightening.

 

[Brains]

I have an e mail ending.nhs.co.uk which is not secure and I can't use patient identifiable data on it unless it goes as an encrypted document which is a pain.

Not everybody has an email ending nhs.net which is the supposedly secure email system.... And there is zero chance of me getting one.

That is concerning:
As it's a simple (and cheap) IT and HR issue to set up a closed e-mail for every member of staff, even when the number of staff is in the millions.

Most private companies, including those that employ hundreds of thousands of people, have a unique e-mail address for every employee and contractor.
That is where your paycheck gets sent to, its how HR contact you, and how you send and receive all work related messages.

In the (largish, but tiny by NHS standards) company I work for, everyone from the bog cleaner to the CEO has a company ID and e-mail address, and you can not even do a afternoon of work experience from school without getting one.

HR get a load of details from every person. Even someone only doing a few hours contract work.
It includes all the usual stuff like your full name, address, bank details, NI codes and a copy of your passport.
They also take a mug shot photo and get a basic medical history.

Anyone unable or unwilling to provide all the information (and there have been a few) simply does not gain entry or get paid until they do (or don't).
(It does mean that there have been a couple of (British) contract cleaners with no passport or bank detail can not be employed)

 

[byegad]

It's strange isn't it?

I had an x-ray at the local hospital some 10 years ago, the specialist I was seeing sent me down to the x-ray department, I had the photo taken and toddled back up to the specialist, in those few minutes he had the x-ray in front of him, complete with a report on what the radiologist had seen. All done by internal email.

Last year I had another taken at the behest of the specialist, in the same hospital. This time I had to go back in a week for the results! When I asked what had changed I was told that the x-ray machine that took digital photos had failed 'last year' [ie in 2016] and hadn't been replaced so they were back to developing film.

 

[midlife]

It's strange isn't it?

I had an x-ray at the local hospital some 10 years ago, the specialist I was seeing sent me down to the x-ray department, I had the photo taken and toddled back up to the specialist, in those few minutes he had the x-ray in front of him, complete with a report on what the radiologist had seen. All done by internal email.

Last year I had another taken at the behest of the specialist, in the same hospital. This time I had to go back in a week for the results! When I asked what had changed I was told that the x-ray machine that took digital photos had failed 'last year' [ie in 2016] and hadn't been replaced so they were back to developing film.

That happens here via PACS (x-ray system) but no e-mail involved.

 

[Proto]

By an amazing coincidence my solicitor has just sent me a text message asking if we have a fax machine so he can send some secure documents over .......

 

[Smokin Joe]

I seem to remember at least one version of Windows had a facility to receive faxes.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I seem to remember at least one version of Windows had a facility to receive faxes.

All versions since Windows 95 can. The modems of the 80's and 90's could talk FAX.

 

[classic33]

All versions since Windows 95 can. The modems of the 80's and 90's could talk FAX.

3.1

 

[Ming the Merciless]

3.1

2.7818

 

[tom73]

That is concerning:
As it's a simple (and cheap) IT and HR issue to set up a closed e-mail for every member of staff, even when the number of staff is in the millions.

Most private companies, including those that employ hundreds of thousands of people, have a unique e-mail address for every employee and contractor.
That is where your paycheck gets sent to, its how HR contact you, and how you send and receive all work related messages.

In the (largish, but tiny by NHS standards) company I work for, everyone from the bog cleaner to the CEO has a company ID and e-mail address, and you can not even do a afternoon of work experience from school without getting one.

HR get a load of details from every person. Even someone only doing a few hours contract work.
It includes all the usual stuff like your full name, address, bank details, NI codes and a copy of your passport.
They also take a mug shot photo and get a basic medical history.

Anyone unable or unwilling to provide all the information (and there have been a few) simply does not gain entry or get paid until they do (or don't).
(It does mean that there have been a couple of (British) contract cleaners with no passport or bank detail can not be employed)

You are totally right it's simple enough to sort in the real world but this is the dog dinner of NHS IT we are talking about. Which has since day one been totally mis managed with on one standard which is way they are now stuck with different systems across the board and IT depts that believe deploying cheep crap (that ends up costing a mint away from the real world) handheld tech that is of little use other than as a chopping board is some how progress.