A second NHS belief has been discovered to have didn’t ship tens of 1000’s of letters to sufferers and GPs.
Around 23,000 letters regarding dangers to sufferers or containing actions for sufferers and GPs weren’t despatched by the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUHT) over a number of years.
The paperwork had been a part of 411,000 which had been left “unauthorised”, or unissued, on a pc system in 2017, together with 1000’s extra which ought to have been despatched out however had been later deemed to be of no threat to affected person security.
The investigation into the incident on the time discovered no important affected person hurt, however NUHT has mentioned it’s going to assessment its inquiry.
It comes simply days after Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that round 24,000 paperwork, together with discharge summaries and clinic letters, could not have been despatched out over the past 5 years.
Anthony May, chief govt of NUHT, mentioned: “An issue was identified in 2017 related to the authorisation and issuing of documents from our Medical Office system, which included letters to GPs amongst other documents.
“As a result, a serious incident was declared and a full investigation was undertaken to establish actions in line with the trust’s governance processes at the time.
“Following a clinically-led process, 22,963 documents related to GP correspondence were identified.
“GPs were informed, and we worked alongside representatives from primary care to agree which correspondence should be resent, which was completed.
“The Serious Incident Review concluded that no significant patient harm has been identified following the incident.
“The Trust took positive steps to prevent a similar incident from happening again, including improved communication and training with staff covering administrative processes and their use of the system, we also introduced prompts and safeguards into the system to prevent further occurrences.
“I know that patients and the public will want to be assured that the investigation carried out in 2017 was thorough and robust.
“We will therefore undertake a review of the original investigation and take any further action as needed.”
The problem was first reported by the BBC on Friday and is believed to have gone again so far as 2000 however was solely uncovered when some letters had been authorised by a workers member in 2017.
This led to 1 GP receiving a number of old letters, prompting them to contact the belief, which then launched an inquiry.
The PA information company understands that the Medical Office system was utilized by workers to retailer paperwork, letter templates and notes, which means most of the 411,000 paperwork had been by no means supposed to be distributed.
However, 1000’s had been, together with the 22,963 high-risk paperwork, which NUHT mentioned had been then reviewed additional and any mandatory actions taken.
Meanwhile, Healthwatch, the physique which collects sufferers’ experiences of well being and social care, mentioned investing in efficient IT programs was “essential in ensuring patient safety”.
Chris McCann, communications and perception director at Healthwatch England, mentioned: “Communication issues in healthcare don’t only frustrate patients but can also put their health at risk while placing additional pressures on every part of the NHS.
“The findings from Newcastle and Nottingham suggest that some people were left without vital test results and diagnoses, meaning they may have had to return to busy GP practices for answers they didn’t receive.
“Many letters related to the next steps for discharging patients, which we know can already be an unsettling process for some patients.”
He added: “These cases offer further evidence that investment in administrative staff and infrastructure is urgently needed.
“While NHS England is currently working to bring down hospital waiting times, they should invest in IT infrastructure, recruit more administrative staff to improve patient communication and accurately record treatment plan details.
“This will be essential in ensuring patient safety as well as helping rebuild people’s confidence that the NHS is there for them.”
An NHS England spokesperson mentioned: “Timely, high-quality communications for patients and everyone working in the NHS remain of the utmost importance to ensure the best possible care and services for all.
“These communications systems are managed locally, and it is essential that all local NHS organisations ensure their processes for sending correspondence to patients and GPs are operating as they should.”
