Unpopular opinion - NHS is useless

Agree, we think of the NHS as a homogeneous thing, but it's far from that.

Interesting reading what you've all put there. My wife is a nurse and can also work from home occasionally. She has to use our PC/Laptop to VPN and remote desktop into her PC at work, as mentioned above though, there are restrictions on what she can do with the software on her Works machine when connected via Remote Desktop. On occasion though she can use one of the departments pool laptops. (Coincidentally I also use Remote Desktop if WFH, so if she knows we're both WFH on a particular day she'll bring a laptop back with her.)

Interestingly though, You could only use the pool laptop if you have your own smart phone as you need access to google authenticator.

I also noted that some of the nurses are now getting their work emails on their personal mobile phones...I did wonder how secure this is, as if the phone gets stolen you're relying on the user of that phone to ensure it is secure.

This too - my wife's hospital implemented a paperless records system. It is brilliant actually however it doesn't link up to other hospitals so often things need to either be printed, screenshotted or rewritten when information needs transferring.

I find it mad that you look at the NHS and you'd think in 2023 with the technology and expertise we have on systems and procedures that there would be one central system for paperless records but nope each hospital trust does it's own thing and employ people to duplicate/rewrite or put that burden on the front line staff. I don't even think there is a strategy for such thing, it's just do as you want for each hospital.

We get waves of phishing emails at work that come from NHS (run by Capita) mail servers. So much so that anything nhs.net is automatically quarantineed. I read that it's reckoned hundreds of NHS devices / email accounts are compromised at any moment.

That is interesting. They have Teams set up in a way that you can only text chat, you can't make telephone calls from it. I showed my wife what I do with my stuff (I'm not NHS) and she took it to both IT and her Line Manager and "it's not trust policy" for O365 or making calls over teams. This is is a large university teaching hospital in London.

Ahhh the private sector, solution to everything

My wife has done interim work at many different Trust around the country for the past 10yrs or so and it never ceases to amaze me how they are all run using completely different procedures / systems.