Sunday 11 January 2009

A few Odds and Sods Techno corner

So the use of mobile ‘phones is to be allowed after many years of being banned in NHS hospitals. The well established Dr Crippen (much respect) have their own thoughts on this momentous day for the appliance of science overcoming management ignorance.

A personal observation over the years has always been that the more senior the person wielding the mobile phone the less interference it has always caused even if it was exactly the same model as the one you owned. So consultants and nurse managers’ mobile phones have never ever had any problem with interference as these are shielded by the invisible cloak of importance as are senior managers’ phones which always have double shielding to everything especially to knowledge and common sense.

Due to technological progress this shield it would appear is now fitted as standard on all mobiles not just the top “end” of the spectrum.

Bit like the huge problems that microwave cookers caused to air traffic control and internal organs in the Seventies?

Had a computer problem at work they didn’t work. Problem was apparently a power cut to a certain part of a Northernshire conurbation. According to the company’s blurb this should not cause a problem to the maintainace of a seamless service they provide at huge expense to the taxpayer as there is a second back up server that should kick in Ninja like at another location.

Given that this didn’t happen we can only presume that the back up was in the same segment that lost power possibly the computer next door?

This needs investigating we thinks as if this is the case the centralization of data will make it very vulnerable to sabotage.

Given the Governments urge for centralization of patient records had one been a patient at one of the several Northernshire practices affected who had need urgent treatment presumeably the patient would have died as there was no central record?

No-one did die. Amazing.

Praise as always be to the Party as it is all wise.

1 comment:

Dr Grumble said...

When Dr Grumble started work as a consultant he was told to get a bleep. The professor told him to. Does the prof carry a bleep Dr G enquired. The answer was no. So Dr G knew that he would get all the calls for the prof.

Now if you have a bleep it is a perfect pain. If you have worked all day and all night as Dr G has (and still does) you dream it has gone off in your sleep which disprupts your sleep even more than the well documented disruption brought about by just being on call. If your bleep goes off in the day you have to find a phone to answer it. Phones in busy hospitals are generally in use as any patient ringing in will tell you. Now Dr G has a mobile phone. Everybody who needs it has access to the number. The switchboard has the number. When it goes off to answer it there is no searching for a phone. The problem can be dealt with at once. Dr Grumble pays for his mobile phone. The hospital decided it wouldn't 'on legal advice' (in case Dr G crashed his car).

It's time we all moved to mobile phones like everybody else in this world. The NHS can be very backward at times.