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Lack of medical records

Posted By MrFraggle

"Lack of medical records"

About: NHS Lothian

(as a service user),

Saw a vascular surgeon at a private hospital arranged by the NHS so that was good. 

Having my OP next week which is even better.

But could NHS Lothian please advise why the surgeon at the private clinic was not given my medical records pertaining to this issue?

I fortunately did have a copy and because of past experinces of poor organisation at NHS Lothian took along a copy of my records which had been supplied to me a while back.

The surgeon today was very grateful to get this copy.

So how was the consultant to make the correct clinical decision without my medical notes in relation to the issue?

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Responses

Response from Jeannette Morrison, Head of Patient Experience, NHS Lothian 3 years ago
Jeannette Morrison
Head of Patient Experience,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 01/02/2021 at 17:56
Published on Care Opinion at 17:56

Dear MrFraggle

Thank you very much for sharing your feedback with us following your recent appointment at the independent hospital. Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you but l have been trying to find out the process for this and have just had a response from the team who arrange the NHS appointments in these hospitals.

I was sorry to read that when you attended for your appointment the surgeon did not have access to your clinical records. I can appreciate that this must have been frustrating for you and it was fortuitous that you brought a copy of these when you attended.

I have been told that if patients are seen in the indendent hospitals with an expectation that they will be treated there the patient’s referral letter and any other paperwork that might be relevant to the actual referral is included but this would not be your full clinical record and l am sorry if this was not the case in your situation. The independent hospital can also ask for further information from the patient’s notes if required. I have also been told that the majority of consultants who work in the independent sector hospitals also work in NHS Lothian and they have permission to access NHS Lothian systems remotely. This includes Trak (electronic patient record) so there should not have been an issue with access to your record from the hospital setting and l would like to apologise again if this was the case. From reading your post, it sounds as though the surgeon has made the decision to give you a date for your opeation quickly.

I do hope your surgery goes well and best wishes for your speedy recovery.

Kind regards

Jeannette

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by MrFraggle (a service user)

Read your response several times but to be honest it still makes little sense.

Yes my consultant does indeed work part time for the NHS but he ccertainly did not seem to have access to my records as why would he ask for a copy of the ones to took with me?

As for my surgery that was cancelled the reason given was the aneasthetist did not have access to my records and after examination decided that he was not happy with the safety aspects so I am back on the NHS waiting list or will be once bureaucracy has run its course.

I do hope that TRAK and I am very familiar with it has greatly improved as my experinces with the medical profession usinng it are all negative but that was ten years ago and surely it cannot still be a bugged?

So a lot of time, both mine and the Edinburgh Clinic has been wasted and of course NHS Lothian will need to pay for the clinics time, I really think that any operation should be done at a hospital, private or NHS rather than a clinic who's facilities are limited and particularly when a patient has issues that make any medical procedure however minor more problematic. And of course all private facilities must have full access top the necessary patient information on which to base their decisions on which in my case they did not have.

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