Medical note mix up - wwyd?

[WingingIt101]

I’m 30 weeks PG and just before Christmas I received a call from our maternity unit asking why I hadn’t arrived for my appointment that morning. I explained I didn’t have one booked and my next appointment was in a week or so. The lady on the phone got quite flustered and whilst she didn’t admit it, it was clear that there are two of us with the same name using the maternity services at the moment.
I laughed it off and said merry Christmas, didn’t think anything more of it.

Yesterday I went to a community midwife appt and have had a tough few weeks - GTT, reduced movements and bleeding, all of which seem to have now settled and be ok (touch wood) but my latest admission to hospital for monitoring was Friday. Midwife goes to do my bump measure and says “oh! When did you go for a growth scan?!” I had to explain multiple times I hadn’t had a scan since 20 weeks but that I’d been told on Friday I should have one to check for no further source of bleeding.
She then quickly realised there were 2 wingingit101’s, babies due 4 weeks apart. The other lady has had a scan which has been tracked on my records, and I haven’t had notes or referrals from Friday added to my own notes.

Community midwife was fab, got straight on phone to the right team asking them to sort it and referred me for my own scan.

I left the appt and was telling my husband - laughing at what are the chances of two of us being due to close together, and saying we just needed to be vigilant when speaking with doctors etc to remind them every Time which wingingit I am - use my DOB and ask them to check. I was happy to leave it there but he’s really angry. He was worried things like test results may get mixed up (we asked them to check and they confirmed the other lady hadn’t had GTT so we know my results for that are at least my own!!) and that when doctors read my charts, if they can’t remove her notes and measurements that it’ll look really confusing and perhaps lead to less clear decision making.
It’s our first baby so have no idea how much they actually need to refer to these things or if they can just remove her notes easily and apply them to her own ones.
He wants to make a formal complaint but honestly I’m not sure where it would get us.
I can be a bit passive and “oh well never mind” and he’s usually pretty calm so I was surprised this upset him so much.

Wwyd - complain or leave it? And if complain, who to and what exactly about?!

It happens but it's worrying that it appears to have happened more than once, that someone actually confirmed to you that the other patient hadn't had a particular test, and that no one seems to be taking charge of sorting it.
Unless this other lady has the same date of birth, I'm concerned they don't look for 2 identifiers as standard when booking patients etc.
I'd ask PALS to help you sort it. The department should sort your notes and hers as a priority and deal with the data breaches according to their protocol which will be clear.

Speaking as a GP, please do report this formally, because otherwise the organisation won’t learn from it.

It doesn’t have to be a formal complaint, but you should definitely speak to PALS and ask for it to be flagged up as a learning point.

That's quite shocking !
You are right to take extra checks when at appointments such as asking them to check d.o.b.
When I was in hospital to monitor high bp ( on the ward and also in early labour)
The medication came round at night . The nurse came to my bed with a couple of tablets to take, I queried them as I was not any. She said they are yours , take them.
I was a first time mum and started to think perhaps you do take tablets , but said again that I didn't take any regular medicine . I didn't take them as it turned out they were not mine !

I wouldn’t make a formal complaint, but I would probably put something in writing highlighting the issue. I’m sure they have a protocol for such things, and the general policy is doubtless to check DOB as well as name. However clearly this policy isn’t being adhered to, and staff need to be reminded of its importance.

Reminds me of when I went for my amino - DH was with me and spotted that the consultant was about to stick a label with someone else's name on my sample bottle before it went to the lab. My medical notes folder included a page of pre printed stickers and they included a batch at the end of the sheet with someone else's details. This was some years ago - would like to think that the system is better now.

Definitely contact PALS. You are having medical issues and those treating you need accurate information, the last thing you need is for growth issues to be missed if they compare your scan to someone else’s, same with other tests.

We’ve had this happen with our twins (same initial and obviously same date of birth) - people search the surname, check the DOB then just click on the first entry. DT2 has lots of health issues so it’s really dangerous.

It’s good that you are aware and can point it out at each appointment but the service needs to be aware of it - I work for my local maternity service and this would be a big issue if reported as it could lead to adverse outcomes.

I have just had this. I posted about it in Legal. The surgery sent a reminder text re an appointment to someone else with the same name. I happen to know her, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for to know I am going to the doctors.

Because she also told me they had rung her up and insisted on having a telephone consultation with her, even though she told them it wasn’t meant for her, I have written them a formal letter of complaint.

The almost instant e-mail I got back smacks of panic on their part.

I have pointed out the outcome I want is for it not to happen again.

Unless you formally complain I don’t think they will take it seriously.

I was sent home with medical documents that had someone else's stickers included post birth (luckily our own where I with the pack too) but you need to be careful...

Contact PALS and ask them to deal with it

I only say that because this happened to me and it turned out the woman had the same date of birth so even after it was “fixed” the first time it happened again

You need to flag it up so someone like PALS looks into it and can also flag future issues

Also they can also check the other lady’s records to make sure everything was put in the right place, not just removed from yours

It's a GDPR breach. You could report it to the ICO.

I don’t think a formal complaint is necessary. I am a nurse and if I came across this error, I would report it on our incident reporting system. Hopefully the midwife will have done this and flagged it that way.

As a patient, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to contact someone senior/ PALS and ask for assurances that this is being dealt with and how they will stop any more confusion.

As it is, it hasn’t caused any issue as yet but something serious could be added or omitted from your notes, so I wouldn’t just ignore it.

You need the hospital to go through this carefully and make sure both of you get the correct records assigned, as well as warning relevant teams. (I'd probably warn everyone each time just in case too.) These things can happen, but they shouldn't and it's worth taking it seriously.

It's understandable that your DH is upset, he's already getting protective over his baby, that's how it works. It surprised me in pregnancy as well when there was a minor issue and I suddenly realised that DH was already feeling equally responsible for the baby even while he was still inside me. It's a good sign, babies need a good Daddy.

Despite having a very unusual name combination - there's only one of me on the planet - any time I've been in hospital I've always been asked for name and DOB.

If you have a more common name like Kate Jones or Anna White then they should be checking even more stringently.

You need to make a complaint. They should be checking your NHS number to avoid this happening. I used to work in a hospital and although unusual we actually had a couple of patients with the same name and date of birth. We were taught to always use the NHS number as that is unique to each patient

This does happen a lot. I had one lot of blood tests lost when pregnant. I also was phoned with results of bloods tests when I hadn’t had any. The midwife said ‘oh dear, bad news for someone else then’ 😳

At the start of every medication or appointment for ne or for the DC I've been asked to confirm dob and 1st line of address. We all have unusual names so it's unlikely there's another one of any of us in our town but that triple check is reassuring!
Definitely raise it as an issue. Imagine your scan picks something up that needs attention but you dont get it because it's not attached to your notes.

At the very least, I would ask to have it flagged up on your notes - and hers - that there's a duplicate name active in the system and for all HCPs to check and doublecheck DOB and EDD every time they deal with either of you.

As others have said, this needs to be flagged up. It is what PALS is for.

www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-services/patient-advice-and-liaison-services-(pals)/locationsearch/363

Thank you everyone, it’s good to get a range of thoughts on it!!

I don’t want anyone to get in trouble - these things happen but Dh reaction made me think I was brushing it under the carpet a bit too much!
Community midwife has been fab and I trust her to do all the things she said such as raising internally and sending an email to all remotely connected departments flagging the issue so I’ll put it on pals radar as even if it becomes a learning point to help in the future then that’s a good outcome.

I wonder if the other wingingit even knows!!