IT has been claimed that at least one patient was treated last week at a clinic in the Mid Western Hospital, Dooradoyle, without the doctor having had the patient’s medical file.
A reader who contacted the Limerick Post, told how she brought her son for a check-up. “When we saw the doctor, we were told that my son’s file was not available because of a dispute and the doctor dealt with him on the basis of an x-ray, with no access to his previous records.
IMPACT representative, Andrew Pike, said there have been issues with the keeping of medical files in the hospital going back a number of years.
“There are records kept on windowsills and on the floor. We estimate that the hospital’s storing about 50 per cent more files than it should. This was an issue some years ago and efforts were made to store records off-site, but file numbers have increased again”.
The Mid Western Regional Hospital said
difficulties in its medical record section had not compromised patient care and it regretted “any alarmist claim in this regard by the Impact trade union.
“All of these records are available to clinical staff when required in any area of the hospital and services to patients have not been compromised at any stage,” said senior operations manager, Paula Cussen Murphy.
She added: “In some instances there may be a delay, as the record may be in a number of locations within the hospital for clinical reasons. All healthcare records are electronically tracked to all locations”.
A spokesperson for the hospital said they could not address the problem which the Limerick Post reader outlined without specific details, including names and dates of the clinic.
