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Clinical Staff Changes
Unable to Access Paper Medical Records
We are currently unable to access paper medical records:
We are sorry to advise of a recent issue impacting on our ability to access hard copies of patient medical records. We were selected earlier this year as a local pilot site as part of a national project to digitalise all patient records. Records have generally been kept digitally since the early 1990’s – this project was to also digitalise all the earlier information.
It is with regret that we have to inform you that it appears that the supplier who was commissioned by the local ICB (integrated commissioning board) for Bucks, Berks and Oxon, to digitalise the Lloyd George paper medical records held by our practice, has failed to take necessary steps to keep the records in an organised state whilst in their control. This has resulted in the unavailability of some patient’s paper records. The majority of your health information is held securely in your electronic medical record. However, the Lloyd George records of patients over 20 years of age may hold historical information including appointment details, consultation notes, hospital letters and test results.
An investigation has been undertaken to identify the root cause and best way to resolve the issue. The ICB has taken the decision to halt the digitalisation of Lloyd George records and to move them to a new secure storage provider. A rigorous procurement process and risk assessment is currently underway.
The issue has been reported by the ICB to the Information Commissioner’s Office who is investigating the situation to enable them to form a view on what action, if any, they will take.
Breaches of personal data are taken extremely seriously by Unity Health and also by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR) guidelines. Please be assured that our practice is fully committed to protecting patient data at all times. We will inform you when there is an update on the situation. Our privacy notice regarding the data we are responsible for can be viewed here Privacy Policy - Unity Health (unity-health.co.uk)