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 released and sent onwards when the patients re-registered with a new GP.

NHS England said that there was no evidence that any patients had come to harm as a result of the error. But the BMA said that this reassurance was based only on a small sample of records and that the blunder typified the problems that had beset the service since Capita was given the contract.

Richard Vautrey, chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, said, “Capita has presided over a litany of failings since they took charge of backroom support for GP services almost four years ago, from issues with payments to practices, to the very serious error that came to light last year, when tens of thousands of patients were left without important correspondence about cervical screening.

“Capita has consistently proved itself unfit to hold this contract. NHS England has at last listened to the BMA and now plans to bring cervical smear administration back in house. And with this latest blunder they now must urgently do the same for all of these services.

“And while NHS England tells us that they do not believe any patients have come to any harm, this assertion is based on a sample from just one area of the country, which may not be enough to back up such claims. Patients cannot be allowed to be put at risk because of the incompetence of one supplier, and NHS England must offer support to anyone affected.”

A Capita spokeswoman said, “A number of paper medical records were not redirected by PSCE when patients moved to new GP practices. There is no indication that any harm has occurred to any patients as a result of the paper records delay. Patients’ electronic records have not been affected.

“We are working to deliver these physical records as quickly as possible and have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again. We apologise to any patients and GP practices affected.”

An NHS England spokesman said, “There is no evidence to suggest that any patient has come to any harm as a result of this issue, and Capita is now delivering any delayed patient records to the correct GP practices as quickly as possible, with the majority of correspondence returned.”