Concern over use of post for patient records

Two PCTs send GP patient records in the regular post when patients move practice if the patients live just outside the areas it covers, EHI Primary Care has learnt.

A GP practice in Kent alerted EHI Primary Care to the delivery process because it was concerned about the risk of losing records and the threat to patient confidentiality.Most of the registered patients of the practice concerned live within Kent and records are delivered by courier when new patients register. However it has some patients who live across the border in East Sussex and in those cases East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT sends the GP records in the normal post.

East Sussex and Downs Weald PCT confirmed to EHI Primary Care that it and a neighbouring PCT, Hastings and Rother, use the regular post to deliver GP records to “fringe practices”.

In a statement to EHI Primary Care the two PCTs said: “Fringe practices are those practices based outside of East Sussex but with East Sussex patients. All records both urgent and routine are sent by post.”

The PCTs said that when patients transfer practices within East Sussex routine records are sent using the local weekly NHS courier services but all ‘clinically urgent’ records are sent by post to arrive within 48 hours. For transfers to other areas a commercial courier service is used.

The PCTs added: “The above arrangements are broadly in line with other areas of the country. However, the PCTs are planning to undertake a more detailed review of them.”

A practice staff member told EHI Primary Care: “It did scare me when I realised what was happening in East Sussex. It might be more expensive to use other methods but if patient notes are lost they are irreplaceable as well as the confidentiality risks.”

The staff member, who did not want to be named, said notes had been arriving through the post for at least 10 years.

She added: “The last time this happened I phoned them to say that I didn’t think it was a very responsible way to deal with patient notes and pointed out that if they got lost in the post there was no way of tracing them. I was put through to the post room and was told that they had been instructed to put notes in the ordinary post as it was cheaper.”