NHS embraces digital age in pursuit of hassle free service
The NHS might be best known for banning mobile phones in hospital wards but now the state run organisation is embracing modern technology to deliver a hassle free health service.
In future patients will be able to book appointments with their doctor, order repeat prescriptions and even view test results online via a series of new smartphone and tablet apps designed to aid patients in selecting from local hospitals, services and care homes.
A new website will also be created incorporating the full gamut of NHS hospitals, community services and social care, information on charities and voluntary groups to give patients the broadest possible range of advice.
The NHS Information Strategy, to be published today by health secretary Andrew Lansley, is intended to give patients more ‘power’ ahead of the full digitisation of all patient records by 2015.
Lansley said: “The internet has revolutionised how people shop, bank and travel, and for too long the NHS has not been part of that.
“These proposals will ensure that the NHS will become easier to understand, easier to access and will drive up standards of care.
“If people are going to be able to choose, with their doctor, which hospital will provide them with the best care, they will need all the latest information."