Hundreds of NHS hospitals still using archaic fax machines despite orders to bin them

HUNDREDS of NHS hospitals are using obsolete fax machines – despite orders to dispose of them.

Surgeons find it ridiculous that the time-consuming paper messaging system popular in the 1980s and 1990s is still relevant in the digital age.

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Data obtained from The Sun shows that more than 600 machines are owned by 26 English NHS trusts.

Hospitals have been ordered to get rid of them all by April 2020. Professor Neil Mortensen, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: “We hope these last remaining NHS fax machines will be a thing of the past very soon.”

Frank Young of the Civitas think tank added: “They belong in museums, not in infirmaries.”

“Taxpayers are expecting better, especially because it takes so long to see a doctor.

“Sitting around waiting for them to fax each other is an insane delay we can do without.”

Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, also accused ministers of failing to “cut the fax”.

The Department of Health said: “The numbers have been falling year on year and NHS organizations continue to replace them.”