I guess that, like me, some of us have had tests, scans and diagnoses at one hospital and an operation at another. (Only a few hospitals offer heart surgery, such as valve replacements.) How has any exchange of records gone for you?
I had all the tests etc at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, but last July had a TAVI at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford (both within the same health authority).
I'm due for an annual assessment of how the valve is working, and RBH is agreeable to doing it, but needs my JRH records. So I emailed my surgeon's PA who replied “Because of the confidentiality rules the JR records will need to be requested by the Royal Berks directly (cant be done through the GP)".
RBH Cardiology told me that I had to contact the JRH and the nurse torturously spelt out a complex RBH email address for my records to be sent to. I emailed the JRH a couple of days ago and am awaiting its response.
When I was taken to RBH Casualty on March 30, I had an ECG scan, but the doctor could compare the results only with those of pre-TAVI scans.
The other day Tony Blair was advising the new Government what it should do and suggested every patient should have their own personal electronic health record. (But independent.co.uk/news/uk/p... I'm happy enough with my apps giving most of my NHS records held by my GP (a few going back to the early 2000s) and the RBH.
(I gather there's a nifty system whereby if one moves GPs the new one can get one's records electronically from the previous one.)
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Taviterry
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The system for transferring your notes when registering with a new GP is called GP2GP.
Any medical notes held on you will automatically go across electronically from one system to the other. Old paper notes can take a little bit longer.
If you have a hospital appointment or any kind of treatment, the hospital will inform your GP so JRH should have sent a letter to your GP, this should be on your notes as a document
Give your surgery a call and ask to speak to the practice secretary and if nothing has come across she/he can send an email requesting the information that RBH need.
It is a shame that the NHS do not all use the same electronic systems, this would make it so much easier and less fragmented then it is now but it is what it is.
‘It is a shame that the NHS do not all use the same electronic systems, this would make it so much easier and less fragmented then it is now but it is what it is.’
Agreed. If you recall, Government tried this 15 or so years ago. The project failed in 2013 at a cost to taxpayers of £13Bn. The main reasons for this was the raft of different IT systems used by hospitals; GP surgeries et al and very poor project definition and oversight.
I don't have much experience of this except to say my boyfriend was under a cardiologist at 1 hospital and changed to another cardiologist at a different hospital and they just started from scratch and did all the tests they needed themselves
There is some value in that. Many years ago, our very young daughter was diagnosed with acute cardiomyopathy. This was before the days of scans. Even cardiac catheterisation was an extremely risky procedure.
We moved to the NW of England and our daughter became a patient at the now closed Liverpool Children’s Hospital. All the tests were repeated and she was diagnosed with a transposed left coronary artery (now known as ALCAPA). Her surgeon went to the US to be briefed on a new surgical procedure to treat this problem.
Fifty years on, whilst her heart condition has deteriorated over time, and her heart is now fully paced, she is able to live a good life.
I had investigations done at The Royal Derby Hospital and surgery at Glenfield, Leicester. Different health authorities. Communication between the two has been poor. I've had numerous tests/scans repeated because information isn't passed between authorities without request. It seems they'd rather repeat tests rather than doing this because the results are so out of date by the time they're sent. What a waste of NHS resources, time and money. Never mind the inconvenience/angst for me. In France people hold they're own health records so wherever they are they hold their latest records.
We all know the NHS needs a massive overhaul, but I guess its the how. The computer systems just can't cope with the amount of data. It's a mahoosive problem but I just can't see improvements whilst maintaining the amount of pressure it has on it.
It's too huge to improve as a whole. Merely tinkering around the edges won't do it and probably make it worse at the same time introducing fresh problems. Decentralisation might be a start, and then standardisation of systems. It'll take many years and much capital. Also longterm political will, and that's where it falls down because politicians are only after short term results 🙄
I was sent for an MRI scan done on a mobile machine at a private hospital by the NHS. It showed 2 herniated discs in my neck When, a year or so later I went to the local pain consultant he actually called me a liar to my face because the hospital had no record of my scan.
My surgeon's PA said the transfer can't be done through my GP. Still no reply from JRH, though RBH has replied very promptly to my emails, this morning requesting the JRH Cardiology email address I'd used (which has changed recently), so they can chase the matter up.
As for private tests: I saw a gastroenterologist at a private hospital in December, who of course couldn't access my NHS records, even though he also worked for the NHS at the RBH. Then I spoke with the PA of a haematologist at the same hospital, who reckoned her boss could see my NHS records. (As it happened, I'd already been referred to an RBH NHS haematologist, leading to an appointment four months later.)
The gastroenterologist arranged some blood tests and the results arrived in a very shabby manner, spread over eight pages of, er, spread-sheets, some of which were blank. Completely irreconcilable with the more user-friendly NHS system.
I've been reading everyone's comments and am horrified at what people are having go through. I live in Scotland and sharing of records appear to be seamless here - even across NHS Healthboard boundaries. I've had echos done at University Hospitals Wishaw, Hairmyres and Monklands (all in the same Health board), angiograms at Hairmyres and my surgery at the Golden Jubilee and my surgeon and cardiologist could access all the reports. Similarly, when I've been to a private hospital, (re non heart matters) the consultant (who works for a different NHS board from where I attend) was able to access my NHS x-ray .All the best Taviterry - I hope that you get everything sorted out soon.
I mentioned to my cousin my problem in getting records transferred and he had his own tale to tell: " I’ve found in the past that I’ve had to lean in quite hard to get access to my test results when done privately and when I want to share these with other medical providers, including the NHS. One occasion in particular stands out, when I wanted to share an MRI scan of my ankle with my physio and was initially refused access on the grounds that my scan results could only be released with the permission of the surgeon who’d sponsored my scan. They only relented when I reminded them that I had paid for the scan, not the surgeon, and it was none of their business with whom I chose to share the images with. I don’t think they were too interested in patient confidentiality, they just didn’t want to see me take my custom elsewhere."
I think that the transfer of my records has gone ahead. This morning I emailed RBH and JRH to enquire about progress and got a prompt reply from the latter saying that files had been sent last week (only they never replied to my email of nine days ago). Curiously it then sent more papers this afternoon to RBH , who confirmed they'd added them to its records. (I couldn't find them, but I guess we don't get to see the more technical stuff.) They've been passed to the RBH consultant (who'd quoted me £75K 😬to perform the hour-long TAVI privately). There must be hundreds of RBH files on me, covering six different departments. Dunno how a consultant finds the ones that relate to his specialism - perhaps they're sorted into folders?
Yesterday I had to visit the Royal Berkshire Hospital, where a nurse sympathised with my efforts to get my records transferred from the JRH; they too had problems with the process.
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