to expect NHS to coordinate info

You referring to typing aka ?

JessM, yes, you're right, it does take them time to dictate, but it's a lot quicker to say what you want to than it is to type, and, of course, very few doctors are proficient typists, more like two finger typists, so it does take them longer than a trained secretary. And also, when dictating, they don't have to bother with the address, date, medical conditions, medications, etc, etc. unless there are changes. I have no doubt that in the future there will be a move away from medical secretaries (unfortunately the powers that be don't see all the other work a med sec does!) and a move to the doctors doing their own summaries/notes, whether by typing or by voice to text, with these being sent electronically. I see the latter, though, as a difficult course to take; one of the doctors I worked for had a very strong Asian accent coupled with a speech impediment - over time I got to know what he was saying, though if I was off work no-one else would touch his dictation, haha. I dread to think what a computer would have made of him.

yes voice recognition not there yet...

Considering the incredible amount of money that the NHS has spent on computer software I feel I have every right to expect the NHS to be able to coordinate information; that they don't - or can't - I think, in this technological age, is amazing. I was battling for ages to get my personal details corrected due to 'outsourcing' and now check whenever I visit the GP, just in case. The information is only as good as the inputter of data of course.

Just to clarify. It is not a consultant I see at the hospital. The clinic is run by specialist nurses.

There aren't many organisations as vast and as complex as the NHS, which is why, in spite of spending zillions, there is still no practical IT solution that works. I was reading today that a quarter of the NHS budget is being spent on litigation costs! What hope is there?

And now there's going to be a 2 tier system introduced for A & E: OMG!!!!!