Luddites in NHS must adapt to change

THIS is a true story although names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I’ve been having physiotherapy on an injured knee for a few months. It hasn’t really improved and with so many dogs to train I need to be fully mobile.

“I shall write a letter to your GP’s surgery explaining your condition,” my physio told me. “Then what?” “They will pass it on to your doctor.” “And...” ‘He will write to you.” “To tell me what?” “To ask you to make an appointment.” “What for?” “To discuss what to do next.”

“Look, I’m very grateful to the NHS and have every faith in my doctor but many of the dogs in my care will be dead by the time all these letters change hands. Why don’t you just send my doctor an email?”

You’d have thought I’d suggested taking off our clothes and dancing down to the surgery. “We can’t do that!” “Why not?” “It’s problematic, it’s systematic, it’s...grease lightening.” (She didn’t say that last bit I just made it up.)

The gist was that email isn’t an acceptable means of communication.

I wanted to point out that the banks have found ways to exchange our most confidential information via the internet without too much distress but it was a lost cause.

The biggest communication revolution of all time has somehow by-passed the NHS. Consultants fight like Luddites to hold on to their dictaphones and typists while the rest of the world hurtles by in cyber space.

God knows how long it took to faze-out leeching.