There is for a change, some good news to shout about. The GPC has requested a judicial review of a CQC inspection – hopefully you either saw the article in Pulse, or my thread on the forum, or both!  It’s about time they were called to account for what I would consider to be at best an inconsistent approach to the inspection process and at worst, a downright unreasonable, unfair process that leaves some of us in bits.

That’s the good news. There’s a whole stack of stuff I could rant about, whether that’s the multiple financial crises hitting NHS commissioning groups all over the country (I’ve yet to find a CCG that finished the last financial year in the black), the state of the Junior Doctors’ situation, news stations that report on waiting times to see a GP (though they don’t mention that the wait is generally about patients who want to see their GP of CHOICE!), but hey ho, not helped by the Daily Fail and their weekly bashing of all things NHS.  However, I decided to focus on something I’ve not ranted about yet (at least not publicly!)…

Just what the flippin’ Nora is happening with the movement of medical records – or not, as the case most definitely is?!

I remember a meeting several years ago when this company called Shared Business Services came to our county to say how good they were at everything and it’ll be fine, they’ll move medical records in an efficient, timely, confidential way – it would be seamless.  Anyway, they did such a good job at it, that they’ve now been taken over by Primary Care Support England… there have been lots of promises… labels that would track the parcel, we’d be able to log into a computer system and know exactly where a particular set of records were at any given time in their long and often hopeless journey to another GP surgery via, of course, a hub somewhere in deepest, darkest Peru. Obviously it’s NOT Peru, but it might as well be for the hash they’re making of it all!

Since the inception of this brave, new, fabulous service, several weeks ago, we’ve had one visit from a courier – but he was “delivering, not collecting love…”!  I am a tad anxious about a bag containing records going off without a tracking label – I know that this is exactly what used to happen and that’s why I’m anxious! I recall a visit to a local Family Health Services Authority (as they used to be known in the 90’s – after a name change, and before another name change) and I asked to see the dungeon where ‘dead’ notes were kept.  Along a shelf, I spotted a very fat set of records, unbelievably for a patient registered at my surgery at that time.  They weren’t dead, just missing – not sure if they meant the notes or the patient to be honest but the fact of the matter is I have no confidence in a service that, even in its pilot phase, is failing.

So, I’ve taken a stand – does that surprise you?  I’m not sending off any records until tracking labels are available.  If a surgery needs anything urgently, we can fax or email stuff over to them – at the very least, a patient summary so they’ve got medical history, medications and allergies. However, that isn’t the best option, I know. A couple of my colleagues are auditing what they send out and what is received between them – the results could be very interesting.

I know that one shouldn’t criticise a new service when it’s in its infancy and certainly the pilot currently being rolled out is obviously having its teething problems – but those who know me will know I’m not terribly empathetic, sympathetic, tolerant and/or patient… that’s why I’m so good at working in the NHS!