CAROLINE JONES

COLUMNIST

THE past few weeks have put into stark contrast how dependent our NHS is upon information technology and the disastrous consequences when that technology fails.

The IT systems used by many of our GP practices and hospitals stopped working on January 24 and, although the outage only lasted a few hours, the consequences will be felt for weeks to come.

GPs found they couldn’t access patient records and view test results – they couldn’t even access patients’ contact details to cancel appointments.

One GP described the situation as “very frustrating and rather dangerous”.

Many hospitals also struggled because they could not access vital test results.

One patient, waiting for an important biopsy result, was told he would have to come back in a month because they couldn’t view the records.

The same story was repeated at hospitals across the country, with doctors unable to view blood test and X-ray results.

With our NHS already at breaking point, this was the last thing it needed. The backlog created could take many weeks to resolve.

Last year’s cyber attack on NHS England showed just how vulnerable our systems can be.

Many systems are still running on Windows XP, a 27-year-old operating system that, four years ago, Microsoft stopped providing security updates for.

Despite these issues, IT is vital to a modern NHS. We can no longer rely on paper patient records or go back to a time when crucial test results were at the mercy of the post office or when hi-res scans had to be faxed or sent on CD.

Modern IT means immediate access to patient records and test results, and speeds up referrals and the appointment booking process.

Modern IT has allowed patients to order repeat prescriptions online and to book GP appointments.

Modern IT allows for greater data analysis, improving medical research and resulting treatments.

There are clear benefits for both patients and doctors, provided we get the systems right.

Recent outages have highlighted the need for greater redundancy.

The National Air Traffic Service doesn’t rely on just one or two data centres, neither should our NHS.

We can’t have a situation in future where GPs can’t access patient records. There has to be a local cache of data so GPs aren’t at the mercy of unreliable broadband or data centre outages.

We also have to ensure that the NHS employs the best data scientists, the best computer programmers and information security specialists.

As we become more reliant on technology, computer scientists are as vital to our NHS as doctors and nurses. Caroline Jones AM is Ukip’s health spokeswoman