digitalhealth wrote:NHS trusts will be banned from purchasing new fax machines beyond January 2019, after the health secretary ordered a complete phase-out of the technology by April 2020.
Under the directive of Matt Hancock, NHS organisations have been instructed to remove all fax machines from operation by 31 March 2020 and move toward more modern and secure methods of communication.
NHS organisations will be monitored on a quarterly basis until they declare themselves ‘fax free’, the Department of Health and Social Care announced on 9 November.
The directive forms part of Hancock’s tech vision for the NHS, which will eventually require digital health services and IT systems to meet a set of open standards to ensure they can talk to each other across organisational boundaries.
Any system that does not meet these standards will be phased out and the government will look to end contracts with health IT suppliers who refuse to play ball.
Hancock said he wanted to “bring [the NHS] into the 21st century and use the very best technology available.”
“We’ve got to get the basics right, like having computers that work and getting rid of the archaic fax machines still used across the NHS when everywhere else got rid of them years ago,” the health secretary said.
“I am instructing the NHS to stop buying fax machines and I’m setting a deadline for getting rid of them altogether. Email is much more secure and miles more effective than fax machines. The NHS can be the best in the world – and we can start with getting rid of fax machines.”
[...]
WUT
Oh it's not Japan ***sigh of relief***
