NHS ‘should stop writing notes’, as 10,000 patient records lost

Areport has called for NHS staff to stop making handwritten notes in hospitals as it emerged nearly 10,000 patient records were lost in 2017. It’s prompted fears that criminals could be selling the data to fraudsters on the dark web.

Research from think-tank Parliament Street found that 94 per cent of NHS trusts still write notes on paper, rather than save them on electronic devices. Its ‘NHS Data Security’ report, compiled from a Freedom of Information request, says handwritten notes are “no longer fit for purpose”, and should be replaced by tablets and phones.

A total of 9,132 patient records were misplaced in the 12 months from April 2017. University Hospital Birmingham alone reported 3,129 missing or lost records, followed by Bolton NHS Trust (2,163 records), and University Hospital Bristol (1,105), although most of these were later found.

However, many patient records were also misplaced by trusts that have switched to electronic systems, such as Wigan and Leigh Foundation Trust, which reported 426 missing documents.

Only 68 hospitals responded to the request for information, so the problem across the UK could be a lot worse.

The report said “more needs to be done to protect the identity and integrity of patient documents”, recommending that patients should be able to access their records online.

It also suggested that health professionals could use voice-recognition software that automatically dictates what patients tell them.