England’s NHS is trying once again to collate patients’ data
The project is imperfect and controversial, but the technology is needed
BEING IN HOSPITAL is rarely fun. But some things in the National Health Service (NHS) contrive to add to patients’ pains. When IT systems cannot talk to each other, the sick must drive themselves dizzy repeating their medical histories in every new interaction. Without good systems to manage data, operating rooms often lie empty despite endless demand. Such snafus are not only maddening, but harmful. Each delay to treatment compounds backlogs exacerbated by strikes and the covid-19 pandemic, pushing the NHS waiting list in England to a record 7.75m cases.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Joining up the bots”
Britain October 21st 2023
- The world’s largest health-research study is under way in Britain
- England’s NHS is trying once again to collate patients’ data
- Scottish independence has become a long game
- Despite Brexit and the government, British manufacturing is doing well
- The rise of English viticulture
- Britain’s national parks are not protecting nature
- How rationing became the fashion under the Tories
From the October 21st 2023 edition
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