‘A bit of basic automation could make everyone’s lives easier’

• I’M sitting in one of the waiting rooms of the Whittington Hospital with no idea after 30 minutes of when I’ll be called. But actually that’s not the point.

What amazes me is how the medical staff keep coming up to people like me who are waiting, and asking them basic questions, the answer to which the medical staff should know… I’m not blaming the staff, by the way.

“So when did you have your X-ray?”

“Can you tell me the exact date, please?”

“When you had your operation, who was the doctor you were under?”

The medical staff should have this information at their fingertips: on a phone, iPad, laptop or whatever.

They should not have to ask for this, and people – some of them old or infirm – should not have to remember all sorts of essentially administrative details in addition to everything else in their lives.

Sometimes the nurse asks the question, goes back to the desk where the (paper) notes are, and then comes back with another question.

Is it so surprising that medical staff say they are overworked, or that they sometimes feel unappreciated by their patients?

A bit of basic automation could make everyone’s lives easier. I’m not talking about a multi billion pound national project, just sensible and secure software that helps us all.

DOUGLAS HAYWARD, N19