"Lack of inter-hospital communication."

This is a follow up to a story I posted earlier this week and I felt should have a page of it's own as it shows NHS Lothian reluctance to admit that the seven and a half million pound spent on the IT system TRAK just does not work and they still spend vast resources on paper records.

Prior to any procedure involving a general anaesthetic it is usual to see the anaesthetist which I did and she told me she was concerned that placing the breathing tube down my throat was a safety issue to me given that following radiation therapy my mouth has restricted movement as does my neck. So she suggested I have a spinal anaesthesia where upon I would have been awake whilst the procedure would be carried out. Given the nature of my condition this I was not prepared to accept.

I pointed out that I had had several biopsies and a couple of throat dilations all performed under the normal general anaesthetic with out issue and could she, the consultant anaesthetist, not have a look at the notes by the anaesthetists on my previous procedure. But it turns out this is not possible as the notes are on paper and at another hospital rather than copied into TRAK thereby allowing others to access them when necessary.

My operation was almost cancelled but for the persuasion of the very professional and I might add caring anaesthetist we went a slightly different route to install the breathing tube so operation went ahead.

Why I have to ask is important information that other health care professional might need not available via TRAK? This is not the first time that I have come up against the ineffectiveness of TRAK. Surely in the 21st century all information on a patient should be available to anyone in any hospital or medical facility within NHS Lothian. yet wherever you go it is paper form after paper form with little of the information actually copied onto NHS Lothian's own IT system.

How many mistakes etc can be attributed to this lack of modern data handling?