Horrific errors in NHS notes

[Dragon888]

I tried to get a full set of my nhs notes from birth to current date including all letters only to be given a heavily redacted copy with some horrific errors.

I am teetotal and a buddhist but an NHS GP wrote that I am a "heavy drinker"!!!!!!!!!!!! (I would note that a full blood count had revealed ZERO percent alcohol in my blood!)

Also my child was born via caesarean section and was not breathing at birth it was traumatic (but my child is healthy now) born in 2001 so an adult now but a few years ago when my child was 17yrs old someone had accessed my nhs notes and changed it to "completely normal birth in completely normal case".

There are many more AWFUL errors too.

GPs keep saying "oh, you have a sensitivity to morphine, dont you"
No I am ok with morphine, I have had it twice due to operations and not had any bad side effects. I STILL have no answer as to why they keep stating inaccuracies. My response is always no I don't why are you saying that? they end the conversation and end the phonecall or end the gp appointment

Other GPs had clearly followed the incorrect narrative and the reason that I had been requesting my nhs notes for the last six years only to be repeatedly ignored and or given heavily redacted notes is due to the bizarre way that gps have been behaving towards me.

Stating inaccuracies and being rude to me.

Before all of this I was an nhs volunteer - I still have the badge. My paid employment was at a dementia care home. I deserve a LOT better than this.

According to the GDPR we are supposed to have the legal right to view our FULL nhs notes unless a valid reason is provided for the redaction (which would be VERY rare, even dementia patients are usually allowed to see things). We are supposed to be able to have FACTUAL inaccuracies deleted and if we disagree with a gps comment a note should be added.

I complained to the GP surgery who totally mugged me off and told me that since it was added by a previous practice there was nothing that they could do about it! - which is NOT true, the GP practice who holds your nhs notes are the ones who are responsible for the keeping of accurate notes; then I contacted the ICO who have not been helpful at all and so I turned to the local MPs office for support and the complaint is now with the parliamentary health ombudsman

I am now refusing to see NHS GPs due to what they are doing to me. unless they address my complaints regarding my nhs notes.
This of course will have long term health implications but no worse than the GPs working on an incorrect narrative.

If anyone has sensible suggestions please let me know

msc6199

Thank you for the explanation. Just located them and have sent an email.

CPL593H

The person I am reading about is not me. My name and address but incorrect details. That is the relevance.

CoedenNadolig

LOL :-D

The NHS is really struggling withe pandemic. Leave this for a year or two. They are under enough stress.

TreborBore Sat 18-Dec-21 22:04:48

Following because I’ve just accessed my notes on the NHS app and there are some errors.

I hope you have better luck than I currently am in correcting them.
(complaint is ongoing though so i will let you know how I get on)
Thread may prove useful to anyone else in a similar situation. Especially if I can get this resolved. :-)

DeedIDo

wow.........I guess a lot of us must have inaccurate notes

R0tational
"The NHS is really struggling withe pandemic. Leave this for a year or two. They are under enough stress.2

Unfortunately there are time limits to legally address issues once you have seen them

I would advise you to find a new GP and attend there notwithstanding the issue with your medical records, while this is being investigated. I work in the NHS and I am very aware that notes can contain inaccuracies, and that it can be difficult (in practice impossible) to fully resolve this. In most cases a note attached to the record is the best I have seen achieved.

I must say the way you have written your original post is unusual (eg the fact that you still have your badge from being an NHS volunteer), and I wonder if the way you communicate with your GP surgery may also be unusual, making it easier to brush off your concerns?

I once did temporary work at a national insurance group. To find the correct policies, you typed in certain info and it would bring up all likely matches (long time ago - old systems). There was then a button to merge files if you found different policies held by the same person. After a while it was uncovered that policies from different people, but who shared the same name and same birth date, were being merged as the same person. (Not that I ever did that. 🙄 ) It caused havoc.

Maybe that's what has happened here and 2 people's records have been merged and that's where your false information has come from? Maybe your gp practice could go back to your original gp's and see if something like this has happened. They didn't just make up that information and its not just one wrong piece of data that got entered accidentally.

drawthelatch

no I wasn't even requesting morphine which is why the comments were odd and it is awful because if in the future I had a situation where adequate pain relief were required and they thought that I couldnt have it then i would be left in pain?
re c-section i have had more than the one and other complications which no longer appear on the notes and yes the phrase they used is......odd. I was told after my last c-section that rupture and other complications would be likely if I were to have another child (which i did want at some point) but with the phrase "completely normal birth in completely normal case" would the drs even be aware of that? it is dangerous to say the least
there are many other things that I would not post but part of the complaint was to try to find out whom had access to my notes and whom changed them and why. You are right it is very odd
I personally do find it horrific.

My BIL decided yo overuse his notes online as he had nothing better to do. He has leukaemia and he found quite a few errors that he took up with the practice. He was worried that it might affect any future treatment.

I think I’d be writing a letter of complaint to the practice manager

^^ oops. My BIL decided to look over his notes online....

@madisonbridges

yes I couldn't agree more, errors on NHS notes do affect care. I hope he can get the corrections. x

Dontgetyerknicksinatwist

Yes I did write a letter of complaint to the practice manager.

@maddisonbridges

Yes I hope that is it......I guess if they muddled my records with another persons they could sort that out. At present waiting for response from phso.

I can't picture a scenario where any medical professional would write 'completely normal birth in completely normal case'. Are you absolutely certain it says that? The terminology and phrasing are nothing I've ever heard

TheYearOfSmallThings

No not unusual just trying to show that what is on the notes is not who I am? like it is two different people. I am not sure what you mean by "brush off" the complaint went to the ICO the MP and now the phso
there are many errors it is very odd and contains addresses that I have not lived at and someone that was not my husband with someone putting someone onto my notes as my "husband"! lots more too that I won't post on public messsage boards, but this is enough to give an idea of why I want further advice on what to actually do about it (other than what I have already done)

Your notes have clearly been merged with someone else's then. Probably someone with the same name and/or date of birth.

We are all legally entitled to a copy of our medical file. It is something I did a few years ago, because I was struggling with severe ill health and wanted to see historical test results and treatment.

I was going to write about the catalogue of errors in my own file, but that’s not particularly helpful. Suffice to say that my notes contain incorrect information, wrong diagnoses, had letters about other patients with serious medical conditions in there, and some pretty unkind and unwarranted comments written about me.

A letter about me with full information about my then-current health issues and history was addressed and sent to my adult daughter, who was living at a totally different address – it was lucky she already knew about it all, or it would have caused her great distress.

You really have my sympathy, OP, because most people can’t believe that these things happen. It is worrying because the errors in your medical file can have repercussions for you now. I’m sorry that I don’t have any useful suggestions for getting it sorted, but can see that others have given you good advice. I hope that you can get it properly dealt with.

@Dragon888

DumplingsAndStew

I wasn't discussing morphone which is kind of my point.

So you are talking with a GP, and they - completely out of the blue - say "Oh, you have a problem with morphine don't you?".

Multiple times/multiple GPs?

Not only this, but this is also reflected in your - inaccurate - medical file?

Mine says I'm asthmatic. I'm not
I turned up to an asthma review as apparently they weren't getting that I wasn't, and the nurse went you're not asthmatic
Still wasn't removed until last year when they rang me for a review and she said "oh you had an inhaler.. in 1989" (I was 5 and had a viral induced wheeze!)

[quote Dragon888]@madisonbridges

yes I couldn't agree more, errors on NHS notes do affect care. I hope he can get the corrections. x[/quote]
He was so mad. He said if he hadn't had access online like we do these days, he'd never have known. He'll get it sorted because he's retired and has nothing better to do than make their life miserable if they don't. Haha.

It could have serious repercussions and your practice should take it seriously. Even if they can't \won't delete it, there should be a reference next to it to explain you dispute the fact.
I remember once going amd they referred to my having children. As I hadn't had any children, I queried it and it was someone completely different with just the same surname (which is quite common where I live.) My medical problem would have been stored on her file and then they would have denied I'd ever been. The doctor apologised but it must happen all the time.
Good luck.

I once got a print out of my medical history rather than my full notes and it said I had depression years ago (I hadn't, I had looked for support after a MC) - it also completely omitted the birth of my middle child. It makes you wonder how many other errors there are

Also worth bearing in mind that the accuracy or medical notes will affect any insurance claims going forward.

Do you really want to find critical illness cover won't pay out because you've been erroneously recorded as having had a brain aneurysm in the past? Or that you can't get repatriated when you're seriously injured on holiday?