Patients’ treatment delayed in ‘serious incident’

Hospitals’ backlog goes back up to three years

DOCTORS ARE urgently reviewing thousands of medical records at two hospitals in Yorkshire over an alert that patients could have suffered delays in treatment of up to three years.

Failings in tracking patients on waiting lists are being blamed for a backlog of care which has been uncovered at the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

A total of 7,400 case notes dating back as far as 2015 are being checked by specialists following a wider review of more than 50,000 records.

Patients requiring extra treatment are being fast-tracked for care, including three who have been told they suffered harm due to delays.

A serious incident has been declared and an investigation is planned into how the errors occurred.

Problems at the NHS trust, which runs Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, were first identified last March when it was discovered that a number of patients had not been given follow-up appointments.

Hospital chiefs ordered a wider investigation covering 54,000 records dating back to June 2015.

The inquiries are leading to detailed clinical checks by specialists on 7,433 case notes where there is no record of action being completed for a patient.

Officials at the trust say more than half the checks have been completed and some patients have already been seen by doctors.

Chief operating officer at the NHS trust Ellen Ryabov apologised to patients who had been affected and who were now being contacted directly by health officials.

“We are confident that we have now identified all patients whose records had not been tracked correctly and those patients within this group who require further clinical input,” she said.

Measures could include further tests or treatment or new clinic appointments, as well as being sent the results of previous checks, or formal discharge from hospital.

Ms Ryabov added: “The clinical review process, and that of contacting patients who require further clinical input, are both well under way, and these patients are being prioritised.

“An investigation seeking to establish how the issue was able to occur will be undertaken in due course, once the review of all patients has been completed and all further clinical input arranged.

“Our focus and our priority at this stage is on patient care first and foremost.

“We would like to apologise to anyone who has been affected by this issue and remind people that we will be contacting them directly if any further action is required on our part.”

Officials have revealed that the errors were uncovered by a new IT system which was introduced to replace traditional paperbased records.

The new computer system went live more than two and a half years ago in June 2015 and has helped identify all the patients who have been affected.