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4,000 outpatients seen without records as retrieval system fails
MORE than 4,000 hospital outpatients were seen without medical
records in January because they could not be found in time,
it has emerged.
Figures released to the New Journal reveal 30 per cent of records
were effectively missing in January, corresponding to 4,200
out of 14,000 patients seen.
This figure more than halved in February to 12 per cent but
still means 1,680 out of 14,000 patients were seen without notes.
Speaking at a board of directors meeting hospital chairman Peter
Dixon was visibly disturbed by the revelations. He said: “The
issue of patient records going missing is a serious one. What
actually happened in order to get ourselves into this?”
Last month hospital chief executive Robert Naylor told the board
he was renewing the contract with record guardians Iron Mountain,
who store millions of records in a vast east London warehouse,
for another six months with a view to extending to 18 months.
Doctors, frustrated with facing patients without any background
medical information, raised the issue with Mr Naylor at a Medical
Committee meeting weeks ago. But Mr Naylor says the fault does
not lie with Iron Mountain. He said: “We’ve got something
like a million sets of medical records. The last thing we want
to do is disturb that position so we renewed the contract for
18 months and then it will go out to tender.
“It’s not really Iron Mountain’s problem. They
say if you give us notice we will bring the records for you.
The problem with paper records is you have to physically find
them.
“They normally do turn up but what we’ve found recently
is there is an increasing frequency when they are not there.
It may be because we haven’t asked for them in time or
because a patient has come in early.”
Clinical services manager Andy Webb told the board measures
were already being taken to address the problem, with records
being ordered five days in advance as a precaution. There are
plans to increase this to eight days.
Claiming the problem is merely an inconvenience for staff, who
have to go through the delaying process of ‘clerking’
– taking a medical history of – patients again, Mr
Naylor said: “If a patient turns up and no records are
there, doctor normally have to clerk them and that’s time
consuming.
“It’s always been an issue and will be an issue for
as long as we have paper records.
“Ultimately we’ll have a virtually paperless hospital
with an electronic patient records system.” |
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