I’ve just been trying to make an appointment to see the GP using the NHS app. I was doing so because they told me to do so at the end of the summer, rather than because I have any current systems.

The way the app is designed, you get forced into going down a decision tree and, of course, none of the options available are “I was told to make an appointment”.

This happens all the time with database front ends to systems and you end up bending the truth to make it fit the questions just so that you can get to the end of the process with some chance of success.

Sometimes there is gob smacking lack of foresight on the part of the system developers where even the most obvious and basic situation isn’t covered by the available options.

Bending the truth to make these systems work means we are leaving trails of falsehood in databases everywhere.

God help us all