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"Inaccurate information in my medical notes"

About: Forth Valley Royal Hospital / Accident & emergency

(as the patient),

I had a poor experience when I visited ED early last year. I didn't do anything about it as I know I shouldn't have been there, but my GP insisted I go. It's a long story, but after 6 hours of waiting, I collapsed in pain. I said to the consultant I was going to faint, my legs were giving way. I fell face down and hit my head on the hard floor. The consultant let me fall. 

I recently got a patient summary from my GP practice. I noticed it stated I'd had a panic attack. I hadn't so I requested my medical records. I received a copy of my medical records. The consultant's report from this visit was in there. I was horrified to read a completely inaccurate account of not just the fall, but of the reason I had presented at ED. I apparently had a panic attack (I didn't) and lay down. The whole report was wrong.

I have been wondering what difference raising this issue would make. I was just unlucky, caught that person at a bad time, I know they must lose patience with time wasters 99.9% of the time, I bet they are incredibly patient and caring. Other than there being a panic attack on record that I never had on my record, there's not a problem.
At the back of my mind, it's playing on my conscience. If that consultant treated me this way, maybe they have been treating other patients poorly. Maybe others have been made to feel that they are just an inconvenience, maybe others have misleading notes recorded, maybe others have suffered, and who would believe them?
I have no interest in anything other than passing this information on. Being treated like an inconvenience I can live with, but covering it up with creative writing in medical records is not acceptable and potentially dangerous, in my view. The patient might never know, the next person to pick up on that condition does not have the full story.

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Responses

Response from Dana McGuigan, Operational Support Manager, Emergency Care & Inpatients, NHS Forth Valley 5 months ago
Dana McGuigan
Operational Support Manager, Emergency Care & Inpatients,
NHS Forth Valley
Submitted on 27/11/2023 at 17:12
Published on Care Opinion on 28/11/2023 at 09:27


Dear Be Kind

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience of our Emergency Department, I am sorry to hear that we did not meet your expectations. Documentation is very important and accuracy is essential.

It is clear that you have been left with a negative view of our service and I would like to reassure you that this is not the kind of experience we strive to provide for our patients.

If you would like to share more detail regarding your experience that we could use to investigate further I’d be grateful if you could contact Ric Atalla, Operational Manager by email ric.atalla@nhs.scot

Once again, I’m sorry that this was your experience in our Emergency Department and I do hope you are keeping well.

Kind regards

Dana McGuigan

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