Practices have found it hard to phase out the old “Lloyd George” envelope patient record system, it has been revealed.

Most practices continue to use the envelopes although they were meant to be digitised by now, according to the Health Service Journal. An HSJ investigation found 18 out of England’s 42 integrated care boards stating that all their practices continue to use the paper systems in some form.

Just one board, Sussex, said that no practices use them – although the records remain stored until they can be fully digitised. There are 42 integrated care boards in England and 32 responded to the requests for information. One board, North Central London, reported that 11 of its 203 practices have now fully digitised their records – and 35 are in the process of doing so. Another 13 boards said some practices had gone fully digital but not all.

Dr Neil Bhatia, a GP in Hampshire, told the journal that going fully digital had proved “immensely useful” and had released three rooms in the practice for use by other clinicians. The paper records had posed a huge fire risk and security risk, he said. He said he had received funding from NHS England for digitisation – and many practices are waiting for this.