back to article Hunt: I'll barcode sick Brits and rip up NHS's paper prescriptions

UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to tear up the NHS's clumsy system of printed prescriptions - and instead use "unique barcodes" to dish out medication straight to the poorly. Under the proposals to hopefully reduce human error, paperwork listing medicines and drugs will be sent directly from doctors' surgeries to …


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  1. jeffo

    NHS/IT System, nuff said.

  2. Norman Hartnell

    What can possibly go wrong?

  3. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    Smells like a large government IT contract to me. Gazing into my crystal ball, I predict a failure to meet functionality targets and budgetary deadlines. Oh - and blame firmly placed on the last government for the failure.

    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge

      @A Non 3-mouse

      "Smells like a large government IT contract to me."

      With the emphasis on the 1st syllable.

      Wonder who "advised" them this was the best way to proceed this time.

  4. Irongut
    Thumb Down

    Will cause more problems than it solves

    GPs surgeries can already send prescriptions direct to pharmacies but whenever my gf uses that service something goes wrong. Like it takes 3 or 4 days for them to get the prescription and get all her medicines in at the pharmacy. Or the GP forgets to add one of her many medications to the prescription requiring another round of phone calls, etc. Or they put the wrong quantity or the wrong type of pill (she finds it very hard to swallow some kinds of pills). It is faster and she is more likely to get the correct medicines if she or I pick up the prescription, check it before leaving the surgery and take it to the pharmacy ourselves.

    This might help for people who go to the doctor and get a prescription with one item on it a couple of times a year but for the long term sick with regular large prescriptions it will make their situation worse.

    1. Test Man

      Re: Will cause more problems than it solves

      Couldn't the doctor, in that case, simply print out a copy of the... oh!

      Sorry, I meant that he fills it in there and then and lets you leave once he's "committed it to the system" so that the pharmacy can access it straight away, maybe with a code?

      1. Corinne

        Re: Will cause more problems than it solves


        That assumes that you are seeing the doctor every time you get a prescription. People on long term or permanent drugs don't usually see the GP every 2 months, instead they just get a repeat prescription from the surgery when they request it and have a check up every year or so

        1. JohnMurray

          Re: Will cause more problems than it solves

          The prescriptions are not written anymore.

          They are printed, after consulting the patients details on a database.

          So any mistakes in the past would have either been iron-out, or the patient killed. Job already done.

          This goes even if you have opted out of the "spread your details to the world via India" system.

    2. Al 18

      Re: Will cause more problems than it solves

      the current system is beautify simple.

      The pharmacist keeps your old prescription in a brought forward system (a pile of paper in date order).

      shortly before the repeat prescription is due he hands it a man with a van who takes it to your doctor.

      At the surgery someone is handed a bunch of prescriptions and using their local record system orders a batch of new prescriptions, these are then printed on mass and given to a doctor to sign. Hands up all those who think the doctor reads them before signing.

      A few days pass and the man with a van revisits the surgery to pick up the signed prescriptions. Back to the pharmacy and the pharmacist makes up the prescription entering the details in his local label printing/ stock control system. The paper prescription is then sent to the payment authority where it is no doubt entered into another system. the repeat prescription slip is then put back into the carry forward pile ready to go round again.

      The really astute Reg readers might think that there is some room to stream line this system.

      1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

        Re: Will cause more problems than it solves

        Errrr, when I phone up a repeat subscription request, the subscription is *delivered* to my door the next day

      2. DragonLord

        Re: Will cause more problems than it solves

        The current system is also open to abuse. We tried it for 9 months, and during that time we had to go to the doctors 5 times because the prescription "went missing" - The surgery had a record of it being printed and signed, but the pharmacy didn't receive it.

    3. peterrat

      Re: Will cause more problems than it solves

      On the othe side of the coin, my multiple drug prescription is also sent electronically to the pharmacy (for the last 2yrs or so). The prescription being picked up my myself in as little as 30mins (no mistakes so far). A few years ago I opted out, but now, after a heart attack, can see the benefits, provided of course the system is designed efficiently

  5. rurwin

    But if a paramedic is called to an unconscious patent outside their home, then they will not be able to access their medical records. This is a serious problem. I recommend that everyone is forced to have this barcode tattooed on their body somewhere that the medical practitioner can see instantly. For instance the left hand or the forehead.

    More seriously, I often come out of the doctor's office after my pharmacist of choice (directly opposite the doctor) has closed for the night. So I use the one up the road. Or maybe I'm just about to leave town and have to take the prescription with me. Is the proposal to put the prescription on some central server - which crashes more often than a piece of paper, or am I stuffed until I can get to the pharmacist that the doctor has an agreement with?

    By all means put a bar-code on the paper, and put in a step of checking that against the barcode on the medicine bottle. But don't make life harder just because it seems like a good idea.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No it's going to be uploaded to the chip they're going to surgically embed into your left arm, which will of course use the high speed link they surgically embed to copy it to the one in your right leg... who says they don't have a clue about IT, they're beginning to understand the importance of having a good backup.

    2. graeme leggett


      Fortunately there already exists a unique number for each citizen linked to healthcare - the NHS number in England and Wales, CHI number in Scotland and whatever its called in Northern Ireland.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Barcoding

        CHI number in PARTS of Scotland (defined as those parts who don't feel that they are more important than the rest - West coast, I'm looking at you)

        Anon because I quite like getting treated when I'm ill...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Electronic Prescriptions Service R3 anyone ?

      EPS r2 already allows your prescription to be sent immediately to your pharmacy of choice - and as long as your chemist hasn;t already dispensed awaiting your collection, you can walk to any other pharmacy and collect your drugs from there.

      So this new system differs how exactly ?

      Let me guess, it will also allowed controlled drugs :)

      1. Stuart Abbott

        HOSPITAL prescribing

        The 'new' system is for hospitals. Something the press seems to have misunderstood from the announcement. I blame the Daily mail...

    4. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge


      You wont have a choice of pharmacists because your doctor (or semi-autonomous grant holding patient acquisation unit as he is now known) - is signed up to GooglePreScript which has an exclusive contract with

      Easypharm, who unfortunately only have branches in London and the Caymens (for tax reasons)

      They will deliver the drugs to your home, for a moderate extra fee, and in only 28 days.

    5. Skoorb

      I don't understand how this is different from the existing systems that everyone has had repeated hissy fits about then refused to use.

      Have a look at The Electronic Prescription Service and Summery Care Record and tell me what the difference is between these and Mr Hunt's plans?

    6. Fatman

      Is the proposal to put the prescription on some central server - which crashes more often than a piece of paper, ...

      <flame war>

      I would not want to trust my life to the security of a WindblowZE based server.

      </flame war>

    7. elderlybloke
      Big Brother

      Barcodes /Numbers Tattooed

      The Germans had a system a while back (between 1933-45) where a lot of people who congrecated together, had numbers tattooed on their arms.

      The system is not new at all.

  6. ukgnome

    Beep - Beep - Beep

    Unexpected human in the baggage area

  7. Captain_Aluminium
    Black Helicopters

    Paranoia, paranoia, everybody's coming to get me

    Cue tinfoil hat brigade with cries of "Mark of the beast"

  8. graeme leggett

    information interchange

    GP systems are from a few providers and are tailored to patient record keeping, pharmacy systems are from other providers and tailored to stock control dispensing and payments. Pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers systems are tailored to bulk stock control and ordering but we can leave them out of this.

    I think there probably are savings and safety improvements to be achieved but are they as great as might be expected

    At the moment GP writes prescription (most actually select the drug, dosage etc on screen) and the printer churns out the script which the GP signs. Bad handwriting is mostly an issue of the past in prescriptions.

    Patient takes script to pharmacy of their choice (the only one open at that time, the one next to the surgery, or the one in the supermarket where they buy their groceries - convenience)

    Patient gets medication from pharmacy in exchange for NHS charge and goes off to get better (hopefully)

    Pharmacy submits prescription to local NHS organization which then scrutinizes it and if satisfied provides the differential between NHS charge and actual cost of medication to the pharmacy.

    If you are regular with a pharmacy then they can cross-reference your latest prescription with previous ones and warn you of any problems. But I suspect most aren't

    1. David Ward 1

      Re: information interchange

      except this story is about hospitals and primary care not GP's

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    For the PM who wants to look good

    Any PM who wants to look like a star turn but lacks the Churchillian gravitas to pull it off needs a Jeremy Hunt or two in their cabinet. There's nothing better to reassure the public (and the party for that matter) that there is a bottom to the political barrel if you scrape hard enough, but its definitely not them, and the nation can be confident that the guy (probably) giving the public purse a quick run round the block at Chequers at the weekend is the only thing between them and the abyss.

    Churchill got it wrong. The best argument against democracy is a five-minute TV interview with the average cabinet minister.

  10. Cliff

    This could work, scope is sane

    It isn't your usual world domination sprawling IT metasystem, it is a really easily defined scope, easily implemented and tested. This is exactly the kind of scope that can be delivered effectively and solve an actual specific problem. If whoever manages it rejects all scope-creep and rides the schedule and budget, this is a sensible project.

    1. Rich 11 Silver badge

      Re: This could work, scope is sane


  11. Trollslayer
    Thumb Down

    Cue contractors

    on up to £3,000 a week (not IT or engineers BTW).

    These are the people who wreck projects because to them the paperwork is the objective yet the same people get the beef every time.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cue contractors

      Right, before it even gets to the engineers there will be the consultants (Accenture etc). That's 95% of the budget gone right there for 'advice' that is basically a mixture of common sense, information any idiot can find via google and indecipherable jargon designed to make it sound like you're really smart. How do I know? Well I have a sibling who worked for Accenture, and yes was briefly involved in that NHS IT system fuckup.

      Everyone jokes about lawyers over billing their clients, but consultants take it to an entirely new level, their job description is to bleed you dry.

      1. Aldous
        Thumb Up

        Re: Cue contractors

        You missed a bit. Some wonk will need to be hired to rewrite the whole documentation so that it complies with ITIL,FCAPS or whatever the next fad design standard in management is.

  12. Dr Paul Taylor

    Sounds like another ID card.

    Please just let me email my repeat prescription requests to my GP's surgery, instead of making me go there one day with a note and two days later to collect the prescription. Then let me take it to whichever pharmacy I feel like on the day. The existing and proposed systems for involving pharmacies in obtaining repeat prescriptions just add to the time and the complication.

    Also, I should be able to get my complete medical records by turning up at the surgery with a USB stick and my passport.

    My way of doing it would take next to no additional IT. Any proposals from computer-illiterate politicians are likely to be expensive failures.

    1. lawndart

      Re: Sounds like another ID card.

      My surgery has an on-line prescription service, which I don't use. I created an account and logged in for the first time to be greeted with what appeared to be an admin's screen, with the capacity to change the background images and modify the newsfeed, etc.

      I logged out again and went back to the telephone method.

      I do like the USB medical records idea, at least until they make carrying a medical history USB mandatory.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sounds like another ID card.

        The French health service has a chip-card (Carte Vitale) which acts as a patient ID card, but doesn't hold any medical records so is pretty useless (fortunately as it turns out).

        A few weeks ago I put mine into the machine at the medical insurance office, for some trivial document, and the system displayed a "please wait" screen. Then a Windows XP taskbar unhid itself from the botton of the live touchscreen!

        Fully active, pointer followed my finger: start menu -> control panel -> examine system...

        I stopped there. Note to self, don't trust that system with anything

      2. JohnMurray

        Re: Sounds like another ID card.

        Mine has an online prescription service which does exactly what is said on the tin.


        Type what's needed.


        Email confirmation arrives a minute later, or sooner.

        Email confirmation of processing a day later.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sounds like another ID card.

      I already have an NHS Prescription Card. It has my NHS number on it. I'm exempt from paying because I have Leukaemia. The last Lab gov brought that in a few months before I was diagnosed.

      This is not an ID card in anyway shape or form but your NHS number can be used to make sure that you get the drugs your doc wants you to have.

      In a few months it will be useless anyway because I turn 60 and get them free anyway.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sounds like another ID card.

        and he's my local MP to boot. sigh

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sounds like another ID card.

      My surgery rigourously insists on the same method; go in two days in advance (taking time off as surgery hours are pretty much office hours), fill in paper form, come back in two days (ditto re hours) to find you prescription hasn't been written. Receptionist asks what it was, pops off to see doctor and gets it done - which could have been done without the waste of everybody's time two days in advance.

      Or I can use the new sparkly web 'patient access' system...

      Log on to portal (two days in advance) using slightly weird combination of details; select from available repeat prescriptions and submit. Check back in two days to find either 'issued' or - far more likely - a mysterious letter with no explanation, i.e. 'R'. Arrive at surgery on day and get told 'R' means rejected, but the receptionist has no idea why. Receptionist pops off to see doctor and gets it done - again, a little of everybodys time wasted for no gain apart from those who profited from creating a web portal so generally dreadful a 6 year olds class project would have been marked down for incompetence had they produced it.

      I can also order via a phone call to my (very good) local pharmacist, who know me and will submit a repeat request via their computer system. Before they had this, someone would walk the 4 yards to the surgery with submissions, return and collect them an hour later, doing this several times a day - "a nice opportunity to stretch my legs" as the pharmacy assistant put it.

      A sprinkling of shiny overpriced spec tech later, and there's no leg stretching, just finger drumming as she waits for the requests that they were assured would take 10 minutes with the new system to come back; instead of spaced out across the day, they come back in one glut at 5pm irrespective of time ordered. So instead of ring pharmacy in the morning, collect pills today lunchtime, it's tomorrow lunchtime, and the pharmacist spends a bit more of their day twiddling thumbs.

      Twenty years ago, doing this all involved very much less of my time ( an hour, usually out of office hours), and I got my prescription on the same day, 3 months at a time. It now takes me a bit of each of two days to get one months supply, takes up more time for both doctors and pharmacists receptionists and involves a whole swathe of presumably offshored cut price 'tech support' to keep it not working very well at all, although some people get a good deal richer at the taxpayers expense.

      So as far as I'm concerned, Hunt can FOAD and go back to being government spokesperson and apologist in chief for his corrupt and greedy friends in the media business.

  13. Christoph

    How much will it cost for this not to work?

    I wonder how much money and how many years they will put into this system before abandoning it as not working?

    Meanwhile I have for years been able to order a rail ticket online and designate any one of hundreds of stations to pick it up from - all details individually specified down to my seat reservation.

  14. TeeCee Gold badge

    Works very well..... those countries that already do this.

    It's not like this is a new idea and that proven, working systems to support it cannot be had off the shelf.

    1. JohnMurray

      Re: Works very well.....

      But then your favourite sponsor would not get a chance to spend several months designing a system that hasn't a snowballs chance in hell of working.

      Then spend several years getting it working.

      Then dumping it because technology has advanced.

      Then back to designing another system....




  15. Dr_N Silver badge

    What a Stupid Hunt.

    I don't understand how there can be any errors in an homeopathic prescription....

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: What a Stupid Hunt.

      The old ones are the best ones!

  16. Red Bren
    Big Brother

    Too late to opt out?

    "We're not going to cancel the opting out that's already happened"

    But we're not letting anyone else opt out now.

    "There may be a process of recontacting people to explain the new arrangements"

    We're going to keep asking if you still want to opt out until you give us the answer we want or you mess up the opt-out form, which we will take as consent.

    "Hunt: I'll barcode sick Brits and rip up NHS's paper prescriptions"

    You missed the bit about giving our details to his mates in the insurance and pharma industries a là DVLA.


    1. Skoorb

      Re: Too late to opt out?

      You can 'opt out' of all sorts of stuff if you want to. See here for SCR.

      As for the Big National Database of everyone registered with the NHS:

      "There are a small number of patients who feel that the existence of a database containing their contact details may place them at increased risk and may want to have details within their records restricted and flagged.

      It is important for healthcare staff who are approached with requests for a patient's record to be flagged to understand and communicate to patients that flagging a record should not be undertaken lightly, because of the potentially significant impact on the ability of the NHS to deliver joined-up healthcare.

      Flagging a record as 'sensitive' will mean that local NHS IT systems will be unable to retrieve your address, telecomms details, registered GP Practice and alternative contacts (such as next of kin) from the PDS. The information will still be held nationally, however.

      As a patient, if you require your record flagged you should contact your GP. Similarly, if you wish to have a flag removed from your record this should be done through your GP. Further information for healthcare professionals is available on the NHS CFH nww (N3 connection required) site (N3 connection required)." See the HSCIC's site for more information.

  17. Vimes

    I've had a kidney transplant and am currently on medication that will have to be given to me indefinitely. For me personally a better system would be to register a pharmacy with the clinic. The clinic can then tell them what medication I'm on and repeat that if it ever changes. I can then go direct to the pharmacy for a refill, and when I do so the clinic is notified. No need to get a response from the clinic that way and things are sorted out more quickly.

    As for 'paperless' and 'reducing errors' perhaps it's escaped Hunt's notice, but all prescriptions seem to be entered on a PC anyway and then printed out for the GP to sign. How exactly is merely stopping the printing going to stop the errors?

    1. Aldous
      Thumb Up

      you can kind of do that already. Just ring the pharmacey and tell them what you need and they go get it from the Doc's. The other way round will not work at the moment as in most cases (not yours) Doctors will want to have the final rubber stamp.

      For example i have monthly ones that have controlled and uncontrolled medications (the uncontrolled is OTC in lower quantities) and have had for the last 4 years. Every single month a doctor has to look at my script and ok it. i have a feeling they give it a quick glance to check the date range and thats it. Imagine how much time could be saved if they could set it to auto-approve (unless its out of a range i.e too soon)

      1. Vimes


        Except that this medication is prescribed by the consultant at the hospital, not the clinic. It also adds at least 2-3 days to the process of getting a refill not to mention take up the time unnecessarily of the doctors involved.

        I've had entire items missing from my prescriptions in the past - even important anti-rejection drugs that I continue take on a daily basis, so I don't think repeatedly asking doctors for a prescription is a good thing, since it introduces the extra chances for errors to be made (especially since the requests often have to go through receptionists that have little if any knowledge of the medication being organised)..

  18. Lee D Silver badge

    So long as I can still take the prescription to the chemist of MY choice, not my doctor's.

    I don't, as a rule, visit the doctor's unless something is green or falling off, so I haven't had a prescription for myself in over a decade. But when I pick up other people's, I've often found that their doctors have sent it straight to a pharmacy that's inconvenient for everyone and it's a fight to get it back and use it in the one you want.

    And why would I do that? Take the Boots pharmacy, for example, that took the prescription for my girlfriend's Pill, fulfilled only half of it and then said we could get the other half "next time" because he had run out. And then refused to fill the full amount or give us the prescription back.

    Sorry, but we ordered a month's worth for a reason - we were going on holiday and needed a month's worth. I had to have an ALMIGHTY row to get the prescription filled fully or returned to me so I could take it somewhere that could fulfill it. And in the past I've had no end of problems where the doctor sends the prescription to the local supermarket pharmacy or whatever that closes at some ridiculously early hour and thus stops me collecting it in a timely fashion at my convenience again.

    Honestly got so annoyed that I made the girlfriend change doctor, change pharmacy and insist on getting a paper prescription each time rather than have it "sent on for you".

    I don't care about the IT. Just give ME the barcode to take where I want. And stop pharmacies from being able to hold your prescriptions to ransom.

  19. russthegibbon

    Anti-fraud measure?

    I remember seeing a news report years ago about the large amount of money the NHS was wasting because of people fraudulently ticking the "I don't pay for my prescriptions" box on the back of the slip. Apparently it was only rarely checked that the patient was eligible for this examption. Maybe this measure is really, at least in part, about mimimising that sort of fraud?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Anti-fraud measure?

      IIRC the reason for the charge was a nominal sum to cover the pharmacists cost of handling the prescription. Since this new computer system will reduce the cost dramatically (all computerised systems do ) the fee can be abolished.

      Alternatively anybody who doesn't have to pay can prove that by registering a 90quid e-passport in the new system on every visit

      1. graeme leggett

        Re: Anti-fraud measure?

        The charge was introduced in 1952 to cover part of the drug costs.

        (I note rationing was still in force in '52)

        In some cases, the prescription charge is more than the actual drug cost eg a week course with a common antibiotic, in some cases the charge is less than cost eg a contraceptive hormone implant, and in some cases a lot less eg hormone implant for prostate cancer treatment.

      2. Midnight

        Re: Anti-fraud measure?

        I don't think that "abolished" means what you think it means. The word you are looking for is probably "pocketed".

    2. Red Bren

      Re: Anti-fraud measure?

      "Maybe this measure is really, at least in part, about mimimising that sort of fraud?"

      I don't see how it would help as my GP doesn't know if I have an exemption or pre-payment certificate. It will still be down to the pharmacy to determine entitlement.

      The easiest way to cut fraud would be to abolish prescription charges altogether. It penalises the long-term sick, it doesn't usually cover the cost of the medication or if it does, your GP will advise you to buy it over the counter.

      1. JohnMurray

        Re: Anti-fraud measure?

        "it doesn't usually cover the cost of the medication"

        The vast majority of drugs prescribed cost less than £7.85.

        A course of Amoxycillin costs less than a pound.

        A Salbutamol inhaler (now generic) costs £2.30.

        28-days supply of Paracetamol/Codeine [500/30] (the maximum a UK doctor can prescribe for an NHS patient) costs, again, less than a quid.

        The cost of those above for a private patient would be much higher than the prescription charge, and that would not include the consultation/prescription charge !

        A lot of medication is not available for purchase without prescription !

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Paperless NHS?

    As long as there is one network connected printer in the NHS, people will send their jobs to it, even if it then takes them a week to get theprintouts via post.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Paperless NHS?

      And if there is ever a problem with the printer it will be raised as a priority 1 call with the supplier of whichever system they are trying to print from, not whoever can fix the printer.

      Cynical, moi?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    NHS patients who refuse to allow their data to be shared across the NHS

    FFS, how do they think that could work?

    Tell them to go private.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: NHS patients who refuse to allow their data to be shared across the NHS

      3 downvotes, but you don't worry about this shit when it's Google, or Tesco or Amazon or Apple.

      All of whom will quite happily tell you to naff off if you want to control how they use your info such that it becomes harder for them to deliver their services.

      Organisations need to use your info and need to disseminate it across the organisation, anything else is inefficient and pissing money against the wall.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward


      My objection is not the amount of sharing between GP/hospital, but who is given access to the central database.

      And, of course, where that database is.

      At the present the proposal is it is not just medical providers that have access to that data but sundry others such as local taxation, DfWP, DVLA. Some 500,000 plus public servants. Then there is the already-happening proposal to let various others have access to "anonymised" data. By various they mean anyone with a wallet no doubt.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward


        Which part of "NHS patients who refuse to allow their data to be shared across the NHS" isn't clear?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rhyming Slang

    Makes me wonder how many govt ministers have shares in the IT companies that will try and bring this into existence - besides Alien 3 beat you to it, Jezzwald - make it easy and tattoo bar-codes on everyone's head, I'm betting in your case, they'll spell HUNT wrong....

    Bar codes are so 80s.

    1. Test Man

      Re: Rhyming Slang

      I'm assuming when barcodes are mentioned, they're talking about QR bar codes.

      1. Stuart Abbott

        Re: Rhyming Slang

        Nope, just simple 2D ones. Unique identifier that then queries a database. Barcode itself has no information beyond a series of numbers and letters.

        Unless you're in Wales in which case, yes it is a QR code :)

        1. M Gale

          Re: Rhyming Slang

          Barcodes are 1D. QR codes are 2D.

          <- Yes I'm in that kind of a mood.

  23. plrndl

    Deja Vu

    The IT infrastructure needed to implement this system will cost £25,000,0000,00000,000000... and the project will be cancelled after 5 years.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What it translates to is lots more money from healthcare software providers for all the pharmacists that need to upgrade the systems which interact with the NHS system at a huge cost (or pay massive sums of money -even larger sums of money) to get their own past the QA processes needed for interacting with the NHS system.

    A silent way to further milk the healthcare system of money, only deferring the costs to pharmacies (many smaller ones which will then end up closing)

    1. JohnMurray

      Unless you missed the news: The NATIONAL health service has left the building. With the passage of the Health and Care reform act it, effectively, was killed.

      Now the health dept has no control on funding, or over foundation trust hospitals (except setting standards)

      Control has now passed to the GP commissioning groups (circle health, virgin health, capita et-al)

      Doctors now send patients to private clinics for a large variety of things.

      "you'll need about 12 sessions of physio, you get 5 on the health service and the others will be £50.00 each session. Don't slam the door on your way out. Goodbye"

      The latest idea is a patient gets a set amount, and uses it to buy their treatment.

      Obviously nothing can go wrong with that.

      "I'm sorry sir/madam/ms you have consumed your entire budget. How are you going to pay the additional £25000.00"

  25. smudge

    HMG is off its face?

    "Or a doctor is prescribing the wrong drugs, because they don’t know what drugs their patient is already on."

    Ehh??? My doctor sure knows what I'm on - he has one of these telebox things with a keyboard, and it tells him.

    Mind you, if Government ministers have doctors who prescribe stuff without knowing what else these people are on, then that explains an awful lot of the last three years' idiocy.

    1. Stuart Abbott
      Thumb Up

      Re: HMG is off its face?

      But your A&E doc might not if you get admitted as an emergency!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: HMG is off its face?

      My missus is a Pharmacist, and has worked in community and primary care. At least 30% of prescriptions they receive from doctors contain errors, from wrong doses (sometimes dangerously high, sometimes so low as to be a waste of time), to drugs contraindicating or duplicating the effect of existing ones, to some that have been withdrawn for safety reasons.

      The whole system of doctors prescribing is the issue. Pharmacists are the experts on drugs, they spend years studying them, and continually have to prove that they are up to date and knowledgeable. Surely the doctor should be the one identifying the illness / sickness, and then passing that information on to the pharmacist, who will have the more detailed and up to date knowledge on drug regimes?

      P.S. I know the article is about PC and hospitals, but anyone who goes to Boots / supermarket pharmacies and expects good service needs their head checking.

      AC/DC for fear of missus finding out of me taking her name in vain.

      1. JohnMurray

        Re: HMG is off its face?

        But the doctor knows what drugs you have a reaction to, if any.

        And, quite frankly, handing your illness details and medical history to a pharmacist is a data step too far.

        and complete details would be needed, because one drug for an illness may not be practical if the patient has another ailment that may be exacerbated by a new drug. Or maybe you don't read those nice, and quite lengthy, A4 pages of detail that comes within the medication ?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: HMG is off its face?


          This article is about hospitals and Primary care. Weirdly enough, a hospital pharmacist will have both those exact things.


          10 points, which is what contraindications and interactions are (see my previous post), and who are the experts on those? Oh yes that's right - Pharmacists. When it comes to drugs I'd trust a Pharmacist over a Doctor any day.

          Horses for courses, I wouldn't expect a pharmacist to do a surgical consult, I wouldn't expect a surgeon to be writing prescriptions. Instead I'd much prefer to have the best, most knowledgeable person for the job doing it.

  26. John Moppett

    There is an alternative!

    I carry a USB connector in a card ( which allows me to input and check the data and anyone with a PC can read it, but not change it!

  27. JaitcH
    IT Angle

    Does anyone know where/how to ...

    to opt out of the NHS datasystem?


  28. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge

    So let

    me get this straight.

    Your doc can send the chemist an e.copy of your medication for you to pick up, also, in the event of a medical emergency, the hospital can type your number in and see what medication(if any) you are already taking.

    So what he's talking about is a system exactly like the one the out of hours service uses to send a prescription to your local chemist. coupled with an IT system that lets the GP or the hospital see what each other has prescribed to the patient.

    Why not add in the ability for the GP or hospital to see patient notes and test results and we get a system rather like the one my doc and local hospital already uses to see what the patient has been treated with.

    In fact, Take the plastic coated bar code tag that I've got to carry in my wallet and scan it into a NHS terminal and you get to see who I am, how much heart surgery I've had and what medication /latest test results are.

    I wonder if the health minister actually knows what goes on in his department?

    1. Fatman

      Re: So let


      Doubt it, after all, he is a politician, and we all know politicians are full of shit.

  29. Lost in Cyberspace


    He's obviously never been to our NHS trust

  30. Tom 13

    This couldn't possibly be any more dangerous than

    juggling 17 vials filled with nitroglycerin.

    Sure, go for it.

  31. Flakey


    I could tender for the contract, dont know much about computers although i did change a graphics card once. Maybe I could swing it.

    1. quangotastic

      Re: Maybe

      If you've changed a graphics card once you are strictly speaking overqualified for the role and would be considered dangerously likely to accidentally achieve an outcome, so I'd remove that off my CV if I were you. Replace it with a moderately smart but not actually threateningly professional-looking suit, perpetually brown nose and Prince2 qualifications (available circa 500 quid off Groupon). It's what all the govt-related IT types are wearing these days.

      Mine's the one with the Prince2 cert in the pocket.

  32. John Smith 19 Gold badge

    What is it about NHS IT architectures?

    Flexible -> centralized monster database

    Local -> grossly inflexible.

    Perhaps hospitals might do better attempting to eliminate the 700+ "impossible" operating events.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not a completely stupid idea...

    ... even if the implementation would turn it into a complete disaster.

    I used to be a BloodRunner, and a common shout was to transport patient notes from one hostpital to another. Usually when Granny had been discharged from one of the "Cottage Hospitals", then had a relapse and was then taken to the ED of the main Hospital.

    Valuable time could (potentially) be saved if said notes were accessible online.

  34. Adrian Midgley 1

    i saw this in 1999

    But it was store and forward as it needs to be. The US VA separately has it working in their many hospitals and the WorldVista project has been making a product with support of an open source version of it for some years

    In the UK VistA is well known by enough people to put in a Free system known to work over a population in millions.

    I suspect something else had been sold though.

  35. PaulR79

    Best part of the article


    If the doctor doesn't know what you're on already and doesn't check before giving you new drugs I'd question how they got that position in the first place.

  36. Dropper

    Another Great Idea

    Government IT project huh? Those never go wrong..

  37. Arachnoid

    I guess the minister has never talked to someone who works in a warehouse [warehouse I said............!]

    A place where misread bar codes are the bane of existence and invariably lead to delivery issues,which is fine with a case of dried plums but not so good for a dose of mis-prescribed medicine and whos to take the blame for getting it wrong?

  38. LateNightLarry

    I belong to the largest HMO in the US, Kaiser Permanente, that has, with its various branches, about nine million members. A couple of years ago, Kaiser developed an integrated record keeping, prescription ordering, etc., etc. system that has been working well for some time. When I see my doctor, he updates my record on line, places an order for any prescriptions, orders any tests or lab work needed, all while I'm in the examining room. By the time I walk over to the pharmacy, my prescription is ready. I can go to the lab without carrying any paperwork for the ordered tests, and the info is in the computer. I haven't heard any of the staff complaining about problems with the computer system, and the only complain I have is when I need to renew a prescription, and do it on line, it takes up to ten days for the prescription to be mailed from a central mega-pharmacy. But that was the case before they had the computer system for everything...

    That's a WINE glass... since El Reg refuses to provide a real one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If a rhino is a horse designed by committee

      then any IT System designed by the NHS will always be a complete disaster.

      The system used by your HMO would never have worked if designed for/by the NHS as there'd be so many people insisting on their input it would become just another bloated waste of tax payers money.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I live on the Berkshire/Hampshire Border - so my wife, who is often ill, is often treated at, or taken by ambulance to, North Hants (Basingstoke) Hospital, just 15 miles away, much closer at easier to get to than Royal Berks in Reading.

    However, details of my wife's medications don't cross county borders between (Hampshire) hospital and (Berkshire) GP surgery, so if either the consultant at the hospital or the GP changes my wife's medications *WE* need to remember this because both bits of the NHS seem to be working in isolation.

    That's the kind of stuff that needs fixing (before a miss-match in drugs kills somebody)...

  40. DaddyHoggy

    Of course Hunt the C*nt would quite like us to all have or records digitised and accessible wouldn't he, can't think why, oh hang on:

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