"Mixed Up My Records With Another Patient"

I had two appointments with a provider to monitor problems with my eyes. During the second visit in Dec 2024, I was told that they would keep monitoring my eyes and would see me again in 3 months. In Feb 2025, I received a letter with instructions for eye surgery the following week. This was a surprise.

I called to explain they must have booked the wrong type of appointment for me – I was just due a routine check up, not surgery. Despite writing and calling multiple times, the provider refused to review past appointment notes and schedule the routine check-up I was due.

Many weeks later, they forwarded the last appointment notes which included a reference to shadows and vision problems in one eye - which I definitely did not have. I told them that this is not true because I have no vision issues and can actually see, meaning the notes must belong to a different patient, they still did not appear to be in any hurry to get to the bottom of the problem. And I was, at this point, still waiting for an appointment date for my check-up. After approx. 2 months of back and forth, the provider admitted that the doctor had mixed up his notes for me with another patient. The mix-up and the providers inability to recognise and fix it delayed my eye care by 6 months.

Despite a serious anxiety-inducing error in their record keeping and subsequent dismissive attitude, this providers final report following a stage 2 complaint was the only instance they apologised. Human error is inevitable but the measure of a well-run organisation is how they deal with problems when they do arise and in this instance, this provider has failed.

Their report suggested that I could complain to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. I did (on 13 May) and have yet to hear from them.