AIBU to be furious over an incorrect result on my notes?

[koolkatxx]

I’m pregnant and 2 months ago went to maternity triage due to spotting/cramps. They took a swab and I was told I have thrush afterwards. No big deal.
Today I checked my test result notes on the app and saw an entry from that visit saying positive for thrush AND chlamydia. Obviously I completely panicked.
I called my GP who said they can only see thrush on their system, nothing about chlamydia. I then spoke to maternity triage and the midwife checked and told me there is no chlamydia result on my report from that visit and that it must be an error on Badger Notes.
I had a massive shock seeing that with crazy scenarios going through my head about DH potentially cheating on me etc. I had a panic attack for like 30 minutes (pregnancy hormones are also making it more stressful)
And now I’m being told it’s a “mistake” as if it is no biggie
AIBU to be absolutely furious about this?? It feels like a huge thing to get wrong, especially in pregnancy.

I totally agree with you.
Its concerning that they incorrectly recorded a test result and it wasn't noticed by any HCP.
It wouldn't be giving me any confidence in my pregnancy care.

The nature of the test makes it even worse.
The lack of action, (had it been correct) and the health implications to you and your baby is worrying.

Exactly. Most people would be upset about this and its potential implications. Sorry for your loss.

What about the woman who was recorded as not having Chlamydia - and her baby? Has her record been updated or is she to be told to just get used to mistakes when she ends up having premature rupture of the membranes and loses her baby or it ends up with undiagnosed pneumonia a few weeks later?

It may not be an OP yes/no mistake, it could be an OP/other woman in maternity triage mistake.

When I logged into my NHS notes on line I discovered a message saying that all of my records from birth to 2014 had been 'lost'.
No one had ever mentioned this or made any attempt to gather information from me to fill in the gaps.
It did explain why there had been an incorrect assumption on why I was in a certain medication and why no one had been aware of an issue I'd had with suspected blood clots and numerous other things over the years.
I'm not shocked that they lost the data but their lack of interest in trying to gather any information from me, the patient, to fill in the black hole does concern me.

I really don’t think it’s worth being ‘absolutely furious’ over. Momentarily peeved, perhaps.

I’d just want reassurance that the record has been corrected.

That's an extremely good point about invalidating insurance. It's also really bad that the person on the phone said they couldn't see it because if you can, they certainly can too. But we have to put up with these things apparently because it's unreasonable to expect medical notes not to be riddled with errors. It's not like they could be dangerous is it? (sarcasm, just to be clear)

Op, calm down. People are human and mistakes happen.

I had a mastectomy a couple of years ago. Reading my discharge notes they had included epilepsy as a co-morbidity. I have never had epilepsy, been tested for epilepsy, never even been suggested.
I checked my childhood records with my gp and then rang the hospital Trust. They issued a written letter saying it was an error.
It could have threatened my driving licence, my job, ex could have used it to gain custody of ds. But it was a mistake and it got sorted.
Breathe !!

No-one insinuated that. You jumped to that conclusion.

Yes, people do make mistakes. But systems should be designed to catch mistakes because of the potential consequences.

It astonishes me that so few people are able to understand this. Although the consequences of this particular error were relatively minor, a similar error - or the same error happening to a different patient - could have been a disaster.

I would be worried that I did indeed have chlamydia, because which result is correct? The one with or without? So I would have to get tested for it to put my mind at rest.

Assuming the test comes back negative, I would be very annoyed. But people input data wrong sometimes, so it's not really worth being furious.

I very much hope you don’t work in the NHS.

“Human error” is never a root cause of an incident. There is almost always something that has let that human down, whether that’s inadequate training and competence assessment, poorly designed processes, un-validated computer systems or working over capacity to list a few possibilities.

Sometimes the error is down to the human’s behaviour - negligence or deliberate actions - but rarely. And that can never be excused, of course.

I'm also a bit surprised at the minimisation of a "mistake" with potential seriously negative real world consequences, and don't see why it shouldn't be addressed and a proper acknowledgemeny and apology forthcoming.

My DF died a year ago, and had a post mortem. Someone had incorrectly recorded my email address, so the funeral and cremation were over before I got the results. I had been told that processing times were longer due to staffing issues, so thought it was that, however after a couple of months I rang and found that error - I was apologised to, and received said report.

On reading it, I was very alarmed to read of his normal spleen. He'd had a splenectomy due to lymphoma years earlier. I double checked with his last consultant who I happen to know personally, who confirmed it hadn't magically grown back, which is of course impossible, and rang the coroners office.

Going through my head was the remote possibilty that they'd actually given me the wrong body and all sorts of irrational thoughts as my Dad was a nuclear test veteran and much weirdness went along with that. I had opted not to view him at the funeral home as out of all the dead people I've sadly had to manage recently, he had deteriorated so badly in life, and it had been such a long gap that I wanted to remember him in as good a light as possible.

Coroners lady was brilliant. Asked me to submit my concerns in writing. Quite quickly I got a call from the pathologist in charge, who not only explained and profusely apologised for the cut and paste error, but spoke to me about my Dad for about half an hour, listened to a bunch of things that really weren't his problem, and said he totally understood my annoyance and he would feel the same.

That's how these things should be addressed. With open accountability and a degree of empathy especially around sensitive health related matters. Yes, mistakes can happen - it's how they're handled that makes the difference between inducing fury and mutual understanding, and these things need to be rectified.

I would want that corrected on system. YANBU

i was 100% convinced you would say that

i assume a very similar name then

When I was having a mole removed, my notes said it was on the other side. I quickly corrected the team whilst on the operating table. And when I was admitted to A&E with intense pain, notes also say it was on the other side. Mistakes happen.

Personally, before any panicking, I’d want to know how the records get put on both systems and likely asking for a retest - just in case it’s the notes that the midwives and GP have that are wrong- as chlamydia is not inconsequential for babies. Then and only then would I have the mental space to get annoyed or panic about anyone cheating.

Wow, @koolkatxx, so many replies just dismissing this horrible 'error' because 'mistakes happen'. Yes, they do, and probably far more than we realise. However, I am not saying that what I am about to suggest is the more likely correct scenario, as I don't think that it is - I do think that the majority of Mumsnetters are probably correct in this instance - as most of us have already agreed, that yes, mistakes happen, I feel (as my name above shows) that I need to express my own reaction to this thread of yours OP, so please don't get even more stressed by this rather unlikely possibility:

As most of us here have agreed, mistakes can, and do, happen; but what if it was the person who replied to your original query about the adding of Chlamydia to your test result, was the one who made the original mistake?

I certainly don't think it is impossible that there were two differing test results on the system at the same time, as that is exactly what you have described to us as having actually happened OP. So, maybe there had been an initial result/report that had just published the original result, which showed that you did indeed have thrush, but then, as an overlooked test result came in, it - the computer - then published a second report, that added that you were also suffering from Chlamydia? Maybe when you checked the results you were able to (perhaps accidentally, and obviously unknowingly) access the second report, whereas the others only saw the first one?

The only other - at all reasonable - explanation that I can think of, is that one of you must be deliberately lying, and I am not sure how you would benefit from doing so? Therefore, if I were you koolkat, I would be politely demanding a completely fresh test, so that I could put my mind to rest - sorry.

When I started my above reply to the OP, Notafanofheat, you hadn't posted your comment, so my apologies for having seemingly expanded on your post. In fact, if I had seen your nice and concise reply to the OP, I probably wouldn't have bothered with my response at all! I was just trying to not get koolkat upset again, 🙈

In the scheme of NHS mistakes, this one is tiny. If it had been the other way round, and you had Chlamydia and they DIDN'T tell you, then you'd have some sort of a case as that would cause you possible harm.

This is the other way around. Can't you just be happy that all is well? Or are you seeking compensation?

I agrre with @PlayingDevilsAdvocateisinteresting request a new test and then take it from there.

I was told (and subsequently believed) that I had severe arthritis for a year before the doctor rang me and told me it was a mistake - it was the results from someone else's x-rays. I was initally told I needed two knee operations and I even had to discuss this with work due to potentially needing time off. (Turned out the thing with my knees was much less severe.)

Sorry, not the same as an STI being wrongly reported to you, but bloody infuriating all the same.

They can potentially be very big deals though so it’s always best to inform them if there’s an error, no matter how small seeming. (Although I don’t think an STD misdiagnosis is a small matter), and ask to see the updated report (once a new test has been taken) if you don’t have access on an app.

My mum had a discharge letter from hospital that said she had heart failure. Turned out it was an error.

It’s annoying and I’d be making sure it gets taken off properly.
15 years or so ago, I had diabetes somehow end up on my records, despite saying a million times I do not have diabetes this being acknowledged, writing letters etc it’s still on my nhs records, so I get letters about going to diabetes clinics, it gets brought up at appts, and everytime I have to have the I don’t have diabetes conversation.

ForUmber, My sincere condolences on your loss.

OP, This is negligence and you should complain. Mistakes in notes contribute to deaths, of which there are thousands of unnecessary tragedies in the NHS each year, most people never knowing of the negligence their families experienced.

People have very low expectations of the NHS as a system and appear to be grateful for any sort of treatment at all as it’s ‘free’, at the point of use. It isn’t free overall though, is it? It costs/wastes billions and accepts very low standards of performance from workers.

I actually don’t like private medicine on principle - it feels wrong as we are all human beings - but I am coming to the view that the accountability inherent in the private sector is necessary in practice. State run monopolies just generate complacency (DB pensions schemes!) and don’t work for the taxpayer funding them.