Hundreds of NHS hospitals still using archaic fax machines despite orders to bin them
HUNDREDS of NHS hospitals are using archaic fax machines — despite orders to bin them.
Surgeons say it is ridiculous the time-consuming paper message system, popular in the 1980s and 1990s, still plays a role in the digital age.
Data obtained by The Sun reveals more than 600 machines are owned by 26 English NHS trusts.
Hospitals were instructed to get rid of them all by April 2020. Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: “We hope these last remaining NHS fax machines will very soon be consigned to history.”
Frank Young, of the Civitas think tank, added: “They belong in museums, not hospital wards.
“Taxpayers expect better, especially as it takes so long to see a doctor.
“Sitting around waiting for them to send faxes to each other is a maddening delay we can do without.”
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting also accused ministers of failing to “axe the fax”.
The Department of Health said: “The number has reduced year on year and NHS organisations continue to replace them.”