NHS trusts still use fax machines daily despite phase-out pledge

luoman/Getty Images

By Daniel Pye

There are three fax machines still in everyday use in the NHS, health secretary Wes Streeting has admitted.

This is despite a pledge he made in October 2024 to phase them out of the health service within a year.

The trusts still using fax machines are Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Streeting told Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live.

He said Leeds and Birmingham have a plan to phase them out over the next 12 months but it’s going to take Shrewsbury and Telford “a bit longer”.

Streeting said he was told by the trusts he would cause them “some quite significant operational headaches” if he politically ordered them to stop using fax machines and they have “a good explanation” as to why they are still using them.

He added that while the machines do not see heavy use, they are used to communicate between departments and sites across those trusts.