At 18:56 08/03/1998 +0000, Dr Plews wrote:
>> I was a guest yesterday of Robin Guenier, of Taskforce 2000, and the UK's
>> main Y2K guru,
>>
>i.e. Y2K Conman.
I can assure you the effects of Year 2000 are not overstated by Robin
Guenier, it isn't a con and neither is the man.
>> If it is a
>> device that fails, such as a pacemaker, you are exposed if you fail from
>> now to investigate the issue and, at least, warn patients that the device
>> may fail. Hiding behind "suppliers reassurances" is to fail your patients.
>>
>What a load of absolute bollocks.
>Once again the only people who will win is f##### solicitors and
>lawyers. Arguing over who is responsible:-(
I agree that now is not the time to argue over who is to blame, it is time
(and ever decreasing) to put the situation right. IANAL but I believe the
situation is more complex in GP practices than in 'normal' business. Who
bought your medical devices? You, the HA, both of you? Who selected them?
>What about the patients?
>Don't they have brains?
You can't have it both ways, much of what is said on here indicates the
negative state 8:)
>Let us apply a recent legal adjustment - if a
>patient has some 'IT' equipment in-situ, and with all the hysteria
>whipped up in the media about Y2K, isn't it reasonable to assume that
>said patient (or relatives if patient non-compus-mentous) should try
>and find out themselves if Y2K will affect them???
Believe me small businesses are slowly (too slowly) coming round to
requiring all their suppliers to answer this kind of question. Do you really
want thousands of patients clogging up your mailbox with questions?
Multiplied by thousands of doctors all receiving similar. We are working
very hard to urge the NHS to take as centralized approach as possible to
minimize inefficiencies and duplication please don't undermine this with a
devolution to the millions in the populace. Pro-action is required not reaction.
>BTW I have been assured by a local cardiologist that pacemakers
>should not be affected by Y2K
'Should' of course is not good enough. I'm afraid the jury is still out on
pacemakers, particular when viewed as a system which includes the monitoring
and passing of data back to a computer system which reads logs and
determines future action of the pacemaker. Personally I would not have used
pacemakers as the example since better ones have been found which CAN fail
e.g. infusion pumps, defibs and radiology equipment.
Graham
"If you get their heads out of the sand don't forget to get them to brush
the sand out of their eyes! Awareness DOESN'T equal understanding."
------------------
Graham P P Ride, Cybermetrix Ltd.
NEW! - Year 2000 Information Service on
<http://www.cybermetrix.co.uk/plusinfo.html>
Tel +44 (0)161 439 0480 - Fax +44 (0)161 439 1912
Year 2000 services to Health & SMEs & maximising the benefits of the Internet
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