| Electron User 1.09 June 1984 |
Electron To Speed Up NHS Communications
The Electron has been chosen to help streamline a vital area in the work of the National Health Service. It has been incorporated as the nerve centre of an electronic mail device to speed up medical lines of communication. This is the first major commerical venture to feature the Electron. Using conventional telephone lines it can automatically send and receive pages of vital data on patients when linked to others in a network. It will eliminate potentially dangerous delays which are known to exist within the NHS. For messages despatched by even the internal mail services of some large hospitals can take up to four days. "We identified a real need within the National Health Service to improve their communications," a British Telecom Merlin spokesman told Electron User. "This need exists not only within hospitals but also between a hospital and medical people who work in the region it serves." "Changes in medical procedures mean that patients today are being sent home much sooner after operations. So the back-up medical workers must receive up-to-date information on patients' needs regarding medication and other necessary support by the time they get home. Here then is the answer." All that is needed to bring the equipment immediately into service is to plug it into any available telephone jack point. The reason for using the Electron? "It's simply because it's the best on the market for what we wanted, in that it has a large expansion bus," said a BT spokesman. A complete network is already destined for the Hammersmith and Fulham district health authority. Installation is scheduled to start at its operational base, Charing Cross Hospital. After this, the network will be extended to take in doctors and key health workers throughout Hammersmith and Fulham. "We conducted most of our research into the project in this area, so we are particularly pleased that they will be the first to take advantage of it," said the BT spokesman. "Here we have something that could be vital to any large organisation in which a lot of people need to be able to contact one another. As such, the potential market is enormous." |
