Hospital medical records went missing 736 times in four years

The NHS trust which runs The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven says that 53 patients had procedures delayed as a result.

The shocking figures were released after officials responded to a Freedom of Information request from the News & Star.

But hospital bosses say that a solution is within sight because in May North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust began modernising its medical records system.

This has involved moving 357,000 sets of notes from the two hospitals to a storage facility at Kingmoor Park, north of Carlisle. Medical records staff will remain at the Whitehaven hospital.

The extent of the problem with medical records disappearing is revealed by figures which give a detailed breakdown of how many times patients' notes went missing over the last four four years.

In total, since 2013, records disappeared 736 times.

The worst year for the problem was 2014, when medical records were mislaid 312 times. During the following year, it happened 174 times, while so far this year it has happened 138 times.

So far this year, lost records led to 15 patients having their treatments delayed – nine at the West Cumberland Hospital and six at The Cumberland Infirmary. The worst years for delays prompted by lost notes was 2013, when it happened 21 times.

Sue Stevenson, chief operating officer for Healthwatch Cumbria, the county's independent champion for health and social care services, said the figures were a cause for concern.

She said: “We have looked into our data base of patient experience and there are some instances of people having told us that they have experienced medical notes being lost of in the wrong place and there are a few examples of this having resulted in delays of medical procedure.

“There are examples from all major hospitals in Cumbria.

“The figures [the News & Star] has accessed are of concern - especially when this has a direct impact on patient care.

“Our view is that providers should do everything in their power to ensure that services are effectively delivered to a high standard of quality and safety and where there are examples of avoidable mistakes being made then action should be taken to ensure that this cant happen for anyone else.” Healthwatch Cumbria was expecting the results of a survey they carried out to be published soon.

She added: “The questions explored people's experience of all aspects of being transferred between sites and whilst the loss of records is not restricted to this situation, it will be interesting to see whether or not the findings reveal any further examples.”

A trust spokeswoman said: “Earlier this year more than 357,000 sets of notes were moved from the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital to a new single facility in Kingmoor Park, Carlisle.

“This move means that there will be an improved service for medical records as a whole, including moving records between sites.

“We apologise to patients for any inconvenience where notes have not been at their expected location at the time of clinic or admission.”

The new Kingstown facility will replace the Port Road store in Carlisle, which is said to be no longer fit for purpose. It will also replace the basement stores at West Cumberland Hospital.

Commenting at the time, Helen Ray, executive chief operating officer at the trust, said notes would be made available both from the old libraries and from the new facility so there should be no service disruption.

In its Freedom of Information response, the trust said “missing” notes were within its premises but not at their recorded location at the time of the patient's clinic appointment or admission. In all cases, the notes were later located, said a statement.