Scottish Hospital IT Problem Goes Unresolved

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A major IT problem that occurred in Scottish hospitals in the Glasgow area yesterday (October 1st) has continued, despite the attempts of technicians to fix it.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde found that a computer failure had caused problems for staff attempting to access clinical and administrative data. As a result, 288 out-patient appointments, 23 operations and 40 chemotherapy sessions had to be postponed as a result.

More patients could be affected today as a result of the ongoing problems, the health board admitted.

A statement said: "Despite the best efforts of our IT technical staff who have worked throughout the night we have as yet been unable to resolve the problem."

It said a fix has been put in place to enable chemotherapy sessions to take place today, but added: " Unfortunately however there will still be some patients whose planned appointments today will be affected and we are currently in the process of assessing which patients this will impact upon."

The problems being experienced by the health board will echo those of companies and organisations across the country where IT failure may cause significant operational problems. While the problems may not have consequences as severe as the potential denial of life-saving treatment, it could be seriously costly to firms, not least if the problem occurs more than once and gives them an unwanted reputation for failing to deliver goods and services in a reliable and timely fashion.

In many cases, having good offsite backup may provide a solution to such issues, as it will mean that if computer systems fail, staff will still be able to access the information they need to get to.

Last month, the Department of Health announced a £1 billion project to establish a new digital patient record storage system, which will mean such information will be taken out of paper form and instead made available to health professionals 24 hours a day.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has also set the NHS a target of becoming paperless by 2018.

Storetec News/Blogs. "http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/scottish-hospital-it-problem-goes-unresolved/". Scottish Hospital IT Problem Goes Unresolved. October 2, 2013.

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