Capita error led to 130 000 patient records being wrongfully archived

The outsourcing company Capita wrongly archived 130 000 NHS patient records rather than transferring them to GP surgeries, it has emerged.

NHS England has written to general practices to inform them of the mistake, which is the latest in a string of errors in the Primary Care Support England programme since Capita took over the contract in 2015. An additional 30 000 records, which predated Capita holding the contract, were also held in error.

The mistake related to paper records of patients who had de-registered from general practices being incorrectly retained in archives instead of being …