NHS electronic health records pose ‘serious security risks’
A charity has warned there are “serious safety risks” for patients as electronic health records are rolled out in hospitals across England.
Patient Safety Learning said incidents with new systems are likely to be under-reported and should be flagged. It urged the government to ensure adverse incident reports are monitored more effectively. One trust reported more than 900 incidents, including potential patient harm, after it rolled out new software.
Helen Hughes, chief executive of Patient Safety Learning, said electronic patient record systems had significant potential to improve the care and treatment of people, but there were cases where the implementation of the new systems had led to “direct and indirect harm to patients”. A report published by the charity in July warned of “significant risks to patient safety” associated with the implementation and use of electronic records.
Lady Gillian Merron, the minister for patient safety, told the charity in a letter last week that a national team had reviewed all incidents involving electronic record systems that could have resulted in significant harm to patients. She said there would be a review of clinical risk standards in 2024-25 and “continued monitoring of safety risks associated with digital systems”.
Electronic patient records replace paper notes and are intended to be a more reliable system, providing an integrated pathway that can be accessed from any screen in the hospital.
The NHS hopes that all healthcare organisations will have an electronic patient record system by March 2026. While it has several benefits, there can be security issues as the systems cannot work with other information technology systems. There can also be staff errors when using new and unfamiliar technology.
Hughes said: “Electronic patient record systems are becoming increasingly common in healthcare and are an integral part of plans to digitally transform the NHS. It is vital that patient safety is at the heart of their implementation to ensure the benefits that (patient record) systems can provide and do not inadvertently lead to avoidable harm.
“Patient Safety Learning believes that there should be transparency in reporting unintended harm.”
Two trusts, Royal Surrey NHS foundation trust and Ashford and St Peter’s hospitals NHS foundation trust, launched a new electronic patient record system called Surrey Safe Care in May 2022 and reported several incidents of patient harm. Royal Surrey reported 927 incidents to a reporting system used to flag potential risks, some of which involved patient harm. Ashford and St Peter’s reported 269, with eight incidents involving minor harm and three involving moderate harm, according to a report by the Health Services Journal.
The Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust said “over 99%” of incidents reported during the implementation of the new patient records system had resulted in “little or no harm to patients”.
The trust said: “Implementing an electronic patient record is a challenge for any workforce and takes time to implement. Patient safety is our priority, so we have actively encouraged staff to proactively report issues and opportunities for improvement through our incident reporting system.”
A spokesperson for Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS foundation trust said: “We continually review the functionality of our electronic patient record to see where improvements can be made. Our priority is to provide safe, high-quality care, so we strongly encourage staff to report any issues they encounter.”
The BBC reported in May that of the 89 acute hospital trusts in England that responded to a freedom of information request and monitored cases of patient harm, almost half had recorded cases of potential patient harm linked to electronic patient record systems. The report said there were 126 cases of serious harm linked to IT problems and three deaths in two trusts linked to problems with electronic patient records.
An NHS spokesperson said: “Electronic patient record systems have been shown to improve patient safety and care, including by helping to detect conditions such as sepsis and prevent medication errors, but it is essential they are introduced and used to high standards.
“The NHS has well-established systems for reporting, investigating and learning from patient safety incidents.”