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Courtesy of the Times.
The NHS must stop sending letters to patients and use email like everyone else, the health secretary will insist. Matt Hancock says that email must be the default way of communicating for the health service by 2021, telling doctors that confidentiality concerns are no excuse for sticking with so-called snail mail. Half a million letters were lost in the post in five years and switching over could save lives, he says.
Doctors welcomed the plans but expressed scepticism about shifting wholesale to email within two years. Patient leaders said that vulnerable people who do not use computers must not be left behind.
Tens of millions of pounds are spent by hospitals and GPs on envelopes, paper and stamps and one NHS boss estimated last year that the cost could reach £100 million a year. In a speech to be given to an NHS England conference in London today, Mr Hancock will say: “Having to deal with outdated technology is hugely frustrating for staff and patients alike — and in many cases downright dangerous. A letter lost in the post could be the difference between life and death.”
Mr Hancock, who banned hospitals from buying fax machines, says that more than 40 years after the first email was sent, it is time for the NHS to accept that the system is here to stay. Some doctors are thought to fear that email is not secure enough for confidential clinical information. Mr Hancock says that good email systems protect data and staff should not be afraid to use them more. “Today’s guidance confirms there is no reason why a doctor cannot email a patient confidentially, for example with their test results or prescription, rather than make them wait days for a letter or ask them to come in to the surgery,” he says. “The rest of the world runs on email — and the NHS should too.”