To think that Nhs hospitals should share information with each other

[b584]

I have a friend who is an alcoholic, He has been admitted to hospital a few times because of this,

A few months ago he was admitted again by his gp as he was very yellow, he was kept in for two weeks then sent home with various ongoing medication, It was obviously drink related and he hasn't touched a drop ( as far as I know ) since,

Yesterday he was found asleep in the footwell of his work van on the side of the motorway with a flat tyre, We presume he got a puncture and pulled over, then fell asleep,

He was taken to a different hospital and family was informed through the id he had on him, He doesn't know who is is, ( he thinks he is 20 but is in fact 58) turns out he has liver disease and his liver is poisening his brain, His liver was never tested at origional hospital, They also will not tell the present hospital what medication he was on so at 1 am this morning his landlord (he rents a room in a house) was woken by his daughter and two policemen who needed to search his room to find out what medication he was on.

I always thought that your medical history was available throughout the nhs, am really shocked that they wouldn't give this information to another hospital, I've had a bad experience with the origanal hospital myself a few years ago but I'm really shocked by this.

There's no way a Dr at one NhS hospital would 'refuse' to give relevant medical info to a Dr at another NHS hospital if they had access to it. Trouble is, things get written in notes, notes disappear off to coding or whatever, and the Dr can't (rather than wont) give that information instantly, especially out of hours. Also, if he was very yellow and in hospital for 2 weeks, there's no way on this earth that his liver function wasn't tested. Who's telling you all this?

Two of his other kids went to the house today to collect a change of clothes etc for him, They told us that, He did seem a bit better for the first few weeks after he came out of hospital, but for the last month or so he hasn't been right, been complainig of headaches and just looking really bad,

Apparently his liver has been tested in last 24 hours and he has severe liver failure,

The police wouldn't have escorted his daughter to his home to search for medication unless they had to, would they?

I have just had a quick chat with dh who is head of info at a large NHS hospital. According to him, if the second hospital has a "clinical legitimate relationship" with the patient (ie they are treating him) then the first hospital has an obligation to provide any requested information that would help with the treatment of the patient.

Currently there is no national database or mechanism for automatically sharing clinical patient information. However the information requested should have been provided, and if this was not done then you/your friend/ your friends family should raise a complaint. Either an individual, department or hospital have serious process issues and these should be highlighted so that they can be rectified.

Good hospitals will welcome legitimate complaints as a way of making improvements. Not sure if this hospital falls into that category!

Sorry if this is long and wordy, hope it helps.

Thank you sweetfluffybunnies I will pass this onto his family.

I admittadly do not think much of the original hospital as I myself was admitted a few years ago with severe stomache pains only to be dosed up with antibiotics for 4 days then sent home, was back in within a few months with the same pains only to find out it was appendicitus,

I just presumed that the hospital he is in now could just access his medical records and see for themselves.

As I said, I would suggest getting your facts right before launching a complaint - the likeliest reason for an alcoholic who's been yellow to go into frank liver failure is because he's not stopped drinking. 1 o'clock in the morning isn't the optimum time to get detailed medical information about a recently-discharged patient - most records are still paper-based not electronic. Finally, could the police have had any other reason to search your friends flat in the middle of the night? I'm a bit sceptical that it was just to find what prescription meds he was on...

PS there is as yet no national electronic NHS medical record. There have been various attempts to set something up but every fresh attempt ends up costing a fortune while not yielding a workable product, never mind the concerns about data safety. Laptop left on train containing sensitive medical information, anyone?!

I am in no position to launch a complaint and never said i would, The only reason the police came was to find out what medication he was on,

He was still drinking when he was admitted a few months ago because he was yellow, but as far as i'm aware he hasn't been drinking since,

He still goes to the local club but they will not serve him alchohole and he hasn't been drinking indoors unless he is taking the empty bottles or cans to work to dispose of and tbh he has no need to do that.

At our local hospital notes are stored off site. Even if you are admitted to that hospital you have to wait until they are brought over before they have the history side of things.

It isn't as simple as just phoning up and getting any information you want

there is a data sharing system for patients details being set up where I live that is in use in several areas of the country already so its on its way. its called systm1

I just assumed that a big corporation like the Nhs would have had their computer system linked,

My dd is allergic to penacillian, Its on her medical records but I now realise that if she is in an accident or rushed to hospital for any reason, although she would have id on her so they can find out who she is then they may give her penacillian and they would not be able to find out that she is allergic to it, It is very worrying.

b584 if your worried about it you can buy medical bracelets with allergies on.

I recently recovered a letter saying my records we being added to a central computer system, I think it's a regional thing but it sounds like a good idea to me!

As above - no access to most notes in hospital out of hours. Agreed with above if patient was admitted yellow with a hx of alcohol abuse there is no way a liver test would not have been done.

agree likely explanation is continued drinking on a diseased liver could have precipitated acute liver failure- alternatively he could have developed pancreatitis which has caused current organ failure

in reply to poster above I doubt original hospital was withholding information such as medications- there would be no reason for them to do this- is simply that the poor medical reg who is the only person there at 1 am would have no access to notes as these are paper based. I sincerely doubt any management would get out of bed to locate these!