Further 162,000 NHS files missing

The NHS medical correspondence scandal has deepened with the revelation that a further 162,000 documents went missing in addition to the 702,000 already known to have been mislaid.

The revelation came at an evidence session of the Commons public accounts committee, which is investigating the scandal.

The 162,000 missing documents could include patient records and cancer tests, parliament’s spending watchdog was told.

It is not yet known if the patients involved are at risk.

Officials said that in their inquiries they had identified a further 150,000 medical documents that had been mistakenly sent to the outsourcing firm Capita by GPs; and a further 12,000 had not been processed by SBS.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Conservative committee member, said: “You tell us the bombshell that whilst on a trawl of local trusts you find another 12,000 and then you found another 150,000 missing items.

“Until you have sifted through them, you don’t know if there is a serious case out there where someone is dying because the notes haven’t been transferred. So when are you going to get on top of this situation?”

Simon Stevens, the NHS’s chief executive, replied: “This should be wrapped up by the end of March. End of March is a feasible goal.”