Backlog of data pre-2010 for patients under hospital care

​​​Request 717766729

Patient records pre 2010 (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office. Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 18 October 2024.

"I understand that the recent digitalisation of hospital records only goes back as far as 2010. (I have sight of a letter confirming this in writing from the hospital). Sometimes patient records and history are important from well before that that date, for instance major surgery."

I wonder if there is any update on the backlog of data pre-2010 for patients currently under hospital care. I know of at least two cases where there could have been serious complications had not the patient informed the doctors of pre-2010 records as they had not been checked, and were relying purely on the digital data. Prudence would suggest that older records for current patients should be scanned onto the system. Is there any move to do this planned, and if so, when?

Response

As noted in the referenced Freedom of Information response of 18 October 2024, a previous digitalisation programme processed some, but not all, medical records in 2010. Staff can access both digitalised and paper-based records, as detailed in the response:

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=7880

The Government-wide Records Transformation Programme which included plans for further digitalisation of medical records was paused in 2024 at the procurement phase. Further information can be found in Digital Services’ 25 April 2025 response to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Follow-Up Questions, available through the States Assembly website at the following link:

Letter-Digital-Services-to-PAC-re-Procurement-Review-Follow-up-Matters-25-April-2025.pdf​​