Spine failed

[PerlOfWisdom]

CUK article
The enormous database designed to store everyone's medical records is now not going to be used to store anyone's medical records.

But it will be used to store people's names and addresses.

And prescriptions (which was supposed to be done by another module - ETP).

[DimPrawn]

Never mind, the usual suspects and big donators to New Labour will still get another multi-billion pound project to screw-up next time.

[DodgyAgent]

Never mind, the usual suspects and big donators to New Labour will still get another multi-billion pound project to screw-up next time.

what's wrong with MS outlook?

[wendigo100]

what's wrong with MS outlook?

Or a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet?

[bogeyman]

There was 'big news' the other day when some massive NHS IT project was completed that allowed any nurse in an premature infant care unit to check the availability of cots in neighbouring hospital maternity units without having to spend all day phoning around.

A simple web site?

Nah! Far too simple and cheap.

I despair

[DimPrawn]

I worked on the Criminal Justice System Exchange for CJIT.

The specification reads like a spec for an email system (send data to recipients, deliver receipts for data, give data a priority, hold until delivery date, reject bad data back, retry) etc.

Did they use an off the shelf, industry std, industrial strength, cheap, robust and tried and test email server?

Nope, they coded something up from the ground as the transport and holding system.

Took years and cost a fortune.

Idiots.

[PRC1964]

Years ago I worked on the electricity privatisaton systems.

They guaranteed that you never got the cheapest electricity, but rather the cheapest that could supply all you needed.

The cheapest supplier would never have their energy bought, so they went bust.

It just shows, it never pays to be the cheapest.

[Trimbo]

I actually worked on this thing at the early stages (as a end-user system interacting with the spine) - was obvious then the thing wouldn't fly, WAY way over complicated as it was all basd on HL7 v3 (think masses of xml and xsd).

Then take all the HL7 xml and wrap it inside...wait for it...more xml! Now it is ready for transport over the network so lets wrap it inside SOAP and then encode the whole thing as HTTP trafic and send.

Sounds like the bit they have kept is what was called the "PDS" (or Personal Data Spine) which is effectivly a web service to lookup details of people given a number (ie, NHS Number).

Twas funny tho

[XLMonkey]

PDS = Patient Demographic Service,

everything else sounds about right though.

In its defence, Choose and Book is a great service that enables Mrs Jones in Southampton to book an appointment to see a hip specialist in Strathclyde.

as if she'd ever want to.

And I would walk five hundred miles
and I would walk five hundred more
Just to see the man who'll fix my hip
'cos I just cannae walk no more

Da da da
da da da

It's another IT project up the wall.

[dc al capo to fade..]

[MarillionFan]

"HL7 xml "

Have to agree. The size of a patients file was massive. It was never going to work.