to make a complaint in relation to incomplete medical records

[starshaker]

The court case was mostly my word against his but my medical records could have proved he was lying about some stuff. The main thing was that it was my period. I remember that i needed to do a second urine test because the first was contaminated through menstrual blood. I would assume that should have been in my notes. However, the records of that hospital visit were missing. That evidence could have been the difference between guilty and not proven. It would have backed up more on my statement and proved he was a liar.

So either somebody lost that record or somebody didnt bother doing it in the first place. So WIBU to lodge a complaint?

I'm not sure what the rules are for recording things, but perhaps a contaminated sample counts as a non-result so isn't recorded?

I'm so sorry you are going through this though, it sounds as if you have had a terrible experience x

The PF had my records and looked but this visit wasnt recorded at all. I looked through them aswell so i know its not like he just missed them. I just need closure of some sort and i dont know how to get it. If they had that record then maybe the outcome would have been different but because they didnt i will never know

I think i will ask for a copy of my records and go through them myself

Star you were a witness in a criminal case. It was for the prosecution to get the evidence, not your solicitor because you were not a party.

In your original thread I pointed out how difficult it is to get a retrial after an acquittal, and that applies to Not Proven too. One of the conditions of a new trial on new evidence is that the evidence could not have been adduced with proper diligence - one of my fellow lawyers may be able to get at the precise wording. If these records were available to the prosecution with proper diligence then there cannot be a retrial. And of course if they are not available at all, then that too is that. In all honesty I have to wonder whether there is any mileage in pursuing this - the best you are going to get is a hollow apology from some faceless letter-writer at the hospital.

All the best to you in any event. It's threads like yours that make me shudder about my own gender.

Surely a contaminated or incomplete sample still needs to be recorded otherwise how would the person who originally requested it know it was unsuccessful? My unsuccessful smears are recorded so I can be informed I need to do it again.

Sorry op, I know nothing about your circumstances, but I do know that even within the same trusts multiple data systems are used and making a foi request to one department (for example a hospital) only might miss records another department holds (your gp perhaps).

I think if you need a complete picture your foi request needs to go to the trust HQ or if it's possibly across more than one trust NHS England..... I could be talking codswollop though to be fair. I do agree with you it'd be odd to be unrecorded though.

It wasnt just the sample though. We couldnt confirm the exact date because the whole visit hadnt been recorded. I had an xray and was given medication but none of that was in my notes either.

If you were given medication then I suppose it's possible that the dispensing pharmacy should have their own records attributed to you.

I don't know the background to this but sometimes A&E visits aren't in the main notes so a separate request needs to be made to them.

I doubt whether a contaminated sample would be recorded, the test would just be retaken. But an xray and a pharmacy visit would have an audit trail. Xrays have the patient details on them with the date the xray was taken