IP: UK hospitals postponing operations because of Y2K problems

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

London Sunday times   May 3 1998 BRITAIN
   Line
  =20
   Millennium bug strikes hospitals
  =20
   by David Parsley
  =20
   HOSPITALS are having to postpone operations because their computer
   systems are already being hit by the millennium bug, the computer
   problem that is not due to strike until midnight on New Year's Eve,
   1999.
  =20
   A study to be published this week has found that, because the National
   Health Service has to plan operations well ahead, computers are
   already failing to provide doctors and NHS staff with correct
   information. In some cases operations planned after 2000 are being
   wiped from computer records.
  =20
   The reason for the problem is that many computers will log the first
   day of 2000 as 01.01.00 and, as a result, either assume the date to be
   January 1, 1900, or simply shut down in confusion. Unless the bug is
   eradicated, it could make NHS computers read information incorrectly
   and cause problems with critical equipment such as life-support
   machines and kidney dialysis units.
  =20
   The research by Action 2000, a leading software house specialising in
   the millennium bug, suggests that lives could be put at risk because
   of a lack of both knowledge and funding to cope with the problem in
   the NHS.
  =20
   Last week a source at a north London hospital disclosed that an
   operation had to be postponed because the computer system told doctors
   that the swabs needed during the surgery were out of stock. In fact
   there were plenty available.
  =20
   The confusion occurred because the swabs had a use-by date early in
   the next millennium. Instead of reading the date as 2001, the computer
   could recognise only the last two digits and believed the date to be
   1901.
  =20
   The Action 2000 survey reveals that NHS executives are so worried
   about the implications that almost two-thirds have drawn up
   contingency plans for a widescale failure of systems.
  =20
   Not only are managers concerned about the threat to lives, but 54%
   believe the NHS will be vulnerable to legal claims for breakdowns in
   service and have already sought legal advice. While many big
   businesses, such as BT and the leading banks, are spending upwards of
   =A3300m on solving the problem, NHS trusts are spending an average of
   just =A315,000, according to the survey.
  =20
   More than a third of the organisations polled, which included health
   authorities and GP surgeries, have not yet spent anything on the bug.
  =20
   One senior health executive said: "If anybody answers 'yes' to the
   question that they will be ready for the millennium, ask them for the
   lottery numbers for the first draw in 2000, because they must be able
   to see into the future. Nobody knows."
  =20