WARRINGTON Hospital has the oldest fax machine currently in use in the NHS according to new research.

According to figures released by the Labour party, there are currently 11,620 fax machines still in operation in our health service.

And the oldest in use is owned by Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The fax machine dates back 20 years, having been purchased by the trust in 1998.

A Freedom of Information request by Labour has revealed that hospital trusts spend more than £4,000 per year on maintaining their fax machines on average.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The NHS’s reliance on fax machines is leaving our health service trapped in the stone age.

“For the NHS to still be the world’s biggest purchaser of fax machines – with some trusts using even more fax machines that in 2010 – makes a mockery of the secretary of state’s pledge to turn our NHS into a digital, modern health service.

“In the digital age, patients and staff deserve better than outdated and aged equipment.”