U.K. hospitals will no longer be able to purchase fax machines starting next month, as the country's National Health Service plans to phase out the outdated technology by March 31. 2020, according to The Guardian.
The U.K. Department of Health wants every NHS organization to adopt modern communication technologies, such as secured email, that it says will help improve patient safety and cybersecurity.
More than 8,000 fax machines are still being used in the NHS as of July, according to The Royal College of Surgeons, an independent professional organization and registered charity that advances standards of surgical care in England and Wales. RCS Chair Richard Kerr told The Guardian the organization supports the move to "axe the fax."
"Advances in artificial intelligence, genomics and imaging for healthcare promise exciting benefits for patients," he said. "As these digital technologies begin to play a bigger part in how we deliver healthcare, it is crucial that we invest in better ways of communicating the vast amount of patient information that is going to be generated. Most other organisations scrapped fax machines in the early 2000s and it is high time the NHS caught up."
"Since we published our data on NHS fax machines [in July], we've seen a number of trusts pledge to 'axe the fax,'" he added. "They have proved that with the right will and support, it is possible to modernise NHS communications."