Doctors surgery messed up smear test reminders

[TanginaBarrons]

Just gauging how worried/annoyed I should be. 44 years old with 4 kids. Moved to a new surgery 6 years ago and probably had a test a couple of years before in my old surgery. A few years after I moved here following my 4th baby I suddenly thought it had been a while since I had a smear reminder. I called the surgery and they looked at my records and told me I'd had a negative test at their surgery. I was pretty confused as I had no memory of it but trusted them (I'd had a baby in the meantime so had been in and out of the surgery - assumed I'd forgotten).

Fast forward to now (probably 3 years later) and I panicked that I definitely hadn't had a letter or smear for ages. Called the surgery and they told me that I had had a negative smear this August. Wtf?! They have obviously been updating my records incorrectly and I now know I didn't have the previous one either. I'm in a bit of a panic - I religiously book screening tests when I get reminders so I'm furious. I've now ordered a super drug hpv test but the surgery are being unhelpful about booking me in for an urgent smear until they get to the bottom of the records.

Just wondering how worried and/or angry I should be. Who do I complain to? I'm in Scotland BTW. Thank you.

I think you complain to the Practice Manager and if you’re dissatisfied the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. I’m not 100% sure but the Practice Manager should refer you to the correct next stage.

But I agree that this is something you should complain about. Primarily so that you are able to book the smear you are due. But there is a wider public interest here because what the hell is going on with their records?

Ask to see your result ? Don’t welly in with a complaint that probably won’t be helpful to you.

gp practices take smears but do not do the call and recall. If you are not showing as due they cannot take a smear test as this will be rejected at the lab.
smear test reminders are administrated centrally. It is not something the Gp practice does. You need to address the lack of recall to the smear screening service.

are you are you haven’t forgotten one? Gynae appointment or the like where it may have been done as part of an examination rather than a separate thing.

if there has been an error it is not just your Gp misfiling though - someone at the central service has done this.

Really sorry this has happened, these tests are so important. My GP made it impossible for me to book a smear test during the remnants of lockdown, I ended up paying £100 to go private and got an appointment the next day - appreciate we shouldn't have to do that, but is that an option for you just to put your mind at rest?
I do think it's terrible they've incorrectly updated your records and are potentially putting lives at risk by doing so. I'm not sure how far a complaint will get to though.

As PP said, smear recall is done centrally. Someone at the surgery will have access to those records through a different system, so you need to ask them to check that (it's called Open Exeter).

I do smears and I always check OE for the accurate dates as the GP system isn't as reliable, unfortunately. It only takes someone coding something wrong to mess it up. Or changing surgery.