[BreachExchange] NHS to ban fax machines from 2020

[Destry Winant]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-ban-fax-machines-2020-cyber-security-matt-hancock-a8674411.html

Fax machines will be banned across the NHS in a bid to improve patient
safety and cyber security.

The outdated technology will be phased out by 31 March 2020 under
plans announced by health secretary Matt Hancock.

NHS organisations will be required to use modern communication methods
instead, such as secure email.

Last year the NHS was named as the world’s largest purchaser of fax
machines and it has been estimated that more than 8,000 of them are
still being used across the health service.

However Mr Hancock has now banned the purchase of any further machines
from next month.

Richard Kerr, chair of the Royal College of Surgeons Commission on the
Future of Surgery, said it was “absurd” that NHS hospital trusts still
used fax.

“Most other organisations scrapped fax machines in the early 2000s and
it is high time the NHS caught up.

“The RCS supports the ban on fax machines that will come into place in
March 2020.

“Since we published our data on NHS fax machines, we’ve seen a number
of trusts pledge to ‘axe the fax’.

“They have proved that with the right will and support, it is possible
to modernise NHS communications.”

He added: “Advances in artificial intelligence, genomics and imaging
for healthcare, promise exciting benefits for patients.

“As these digital technologies begin to play a bigger part in how we
deliver healthcare it is crucial that we invest in better ways of
communicating the vast amount of patient information that is going to
be generated.

In May 2017, then-health secretary Jeremy Hunt was accused of ignoring
”extensive warning signs” over outdated computer systems in the health
service, in the wake of a crippling cyberattack.

The weakness raised concerns over trusts using Windows XP software,
which had not been updated since the government cancelled a support
contract with manufacturer Microsoft in 2015.