Thread by @uk_domain_names

The Health Secretary wants to scrap pager use in the NHS, calling them "archaic". They cost over £6.6 million a year to run. However, there are over 130,000 still in use today. So that suggests they're still vitally important, don't you think?
bbc.co.uk/news/technolog…

As the article explains, there are important cases where pagers do a simple task reliably and well, such as alerting staff if a patient goes into cardiac arrest. And because they run on a separate network, they're a useful backup.

So while there's no arguing that they are archaic - the idea of a pager seems almost laughable in 2019 - it's much harder to argue the case for scrapping them wholesale. Yet Matt Baker seems intent on doing so anyway.

But like everything else, once they're gone, that's it. Once you scrap them all, it will be impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to put the system back into place when you find the new workaround doesn't work (e.g. because smartphones can't get a signal in some areas).

He needs to concentrate on bringing IT systems up to scratch, so that NHS trusts no longer have to rely on outdated OS levels with compromised security. And on Brexit. Always on Brexit. We need our medicine supplies to keep flowing! But instead he's off on this Quixotic quest...

It may sound like a trivial thing, a brief "in other news" item at the end of a regular bulletin with footage of stacks of bulky pagers. But it could also be life and death. And with Brexit raging, this issue isn't even going to get 1% of the scrutiny it should.