Press release, 31 July 2016

Practice Index has today exposed the scale of the patient records scandal in the Sunday Times newspaper. Through releasing data from its forum and raising the voices of practice managers, Practice Index has put a spotlight on the Capita debacle that is both putting further pressure on the GP workforce and risking the health of millions of patients.

James Dillon, Managing Director said:

“Our members have been voicing their concerns about missing patient records for months now. We hope that as a result of highlighting their complaints and exposing the scale of the scandal, urgent action will be taken to rectify this mess.

“The incompetence and poor management of the service to transfer records is potentially putting the healthcare of millions of patients at risk. Not only that, but it’s putting additional pressure on an already stretched GP service and their ability to properly support patients. On behalf of the GP surgeries we represent, we’re demanding answers from Capita as to what is going to be done about it.”

According to feedback left on the Practice Index private forum by over 120 practice managers (representing 1.5% of England’s GP practices), it was found 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

Read our blog for further information. 

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Notes to editors: 

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Practice Index is a support website for over 7950 GP practice managers throughout the UK.