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Three NHS Trusts Still Clinging to Fax Machines
8 Jan
Summary
- Only three NHS trusts in England still use fax machines daily.
- Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged to phase out faxes within a year.
- Some trusts retain faxes for cybersecurity backup purposes.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has provided an update on his initiative to eliminate fax machines from the National Health Service. As of early 2026, three out of 205 NHS trusts in England still rely on fax technology for everyday operations: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
Streeting announced that Leeds and Birmingham have developed plans to fully discontinue fax use within the next twelve months. However, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust will require a longer period to transition away from the outdated communication method. This follows a previous directive in December 2018 by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock to ban new fax purchases and phase them out by April 2020.
The continued use of fax machines, relics from 180 years ago, has persisted due to operational needs and, in some cases, as a contingency for cybersecurity threats. Trusts have indicated that these machines may be kept in storage for emergency communication if primary systems fail, a rationale Streeting found reasonable, though he reiterated that even one fax machine is too many.
