Four months on from the roll-out of PCSE’s outsourced medical records transfer service, the scale of the problem has been brought to light by GP practice managers via a discussion on the Practice Index Forum.

As previously reported on Practice Index, the Capita calamity is causing plenty of headaches for practice managers, as well as obvious patient safety concerns as patient records either sit uncollected in practices or, as is happening increasingly frequently, simply seem to be going missing.

This issue could affect millions of patients across the UK and it is only a matter of time before we experience a significant event through prescribing/treatment/care which has the potential to end in loss of life.

A vast problem

So just how much of a problem is this? According to feedback presented by PMs on the forum it appears that:

• On average, 3% of each practice’s patient records are currently unaccounted for
• One practice said that the records of 129 out of 137 new practice registrations were yet to be delivered by Capita
• As well as records remaining undelivered, one practice said that 70% of the records received were for patients not registered with that practice
• Collections of records, outsourced by Capita to CitySprint, were sporadic at best and often the vehicles used were too full to collect new records
• The scale of the problem is vast – our extrapolated calculations suggest as many as 1.5 million* records could be missing in transit

Commenting on the forum, practice manager Bob Wood said that having received information from 12 of the 18 surgeries in the practice group he manages, over 2,200 records were unaccounted for. That’s simply dangerous for patients and GPs and is denying patients the levels of care they should be receiving from the NHS.

Nobody wants to know

Despite the dangers, it appears nobody is willing to help. One practice manager commented on the forum: “I’ve been trying to actively do something but no-one wants to know, never mind listen! I’ve been through both NHSE South West and Central, CCG, Information Governance Lead, LMC, CQC and the Information Commissioners Office, as well as trying to engage with our local Capita representative, but all to no avail.

“We have requested via the helpline, and two emails to pcse.enquiries, the collection of 247 sets of records. I had taken this decision as I had exhausted all of the above and I didn’t wish to be in breach of contract. Having had no joy I rang the helpline again myself yesterday and the lady I spoke to didn’t seem to understand what I was talking about. Firing ill-trained staff at the problem will not provide the solution!

“Finally, I sent a letter of complaint to the Chief Executive of Capita, which just generated an acknowledgement and a hope that my complaint would be responded to by the middle of September. Quite pathetic!”

Knock-on effects

The service is clearly in turmoil and the danger is that practices will suddenly receive hundreds of records to deal with at once – not good given the already stretched roles of practice admin staff and something that could lead to more mistakes. The knock-on effects are wide ranging too with many PMs commenting that trying to get notes for deceased patients for coroners or solicitors is a nightmare.

In order to try and help find a resolution to the problem, Practice Index is in the process of contacting the national press. Other practices are contacting their local media and bringing it to the attention of their local MPs. If we can continue to bang the drum, one day the message might hit home!

In the meantime, why not take a look at the relevant thread on our forum here, it makes for interesting reading!

*Based on feedback from over 120 practice managers (representing 1.5% of England’s GP practices)

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