Not a true National Health Service
Why is IT not the "Golden Bullet" that keeps on getting thrown about and why have so many IT initiatives failed?
From what I have experienced and been told by friends in the NHS is that it is not an NHS in that routine nursing practices vary by Trust and that you have to "be re-certified" when you work for a different Trust.
I used to have regular blood tests when on blood thinners and these were conducted either by my GP Surgery or remotely when on foreign assignment, with the results going to my local hospital to "manage" my condition. I then had an assignment which had me working at the company HQ in Hampshire and tried to setup the same arrangement. The local super surgery was in shock and denial when I tried asking them to arrange my blood testing and said I had to have a local GP to manage my condition as otherwise how would my local GP be able to do that for me. When I told them that my GP had no part in the process already, as managed by the local hospital they at first thought I was lying, but after my insistence and checking with my Surgery, they reluctantly agreed to my request.
I am sure that their must be many other similar examples of simple procedural differences that must be overcome before a standard IT system could be introduced, let alone for such differences in specialised units or when a patient receives both private and NHS treatment (from the same consultants).
I am sure that the process of making "One NHS" could provide tremendous advantages and also have some disadvantages, but it would be a massive task and take decades to evaluate and complete. However my personal feeling is that without that "throwing" IT at the NHS would be a largely wasted opportunity.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
