Thousands of patient records reviewed after GP coding errors

Thousands of patient records are being reviewed after incorrect vaccination status codes were mistakenly logged in GP IT systems.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) have written to 337 GP practices after 57,000 records were identified as potentially affected by the error, according to a report in GP Online.

Jacob Haddad, chief executive and co-founder of Accurx, which is used by the majority of GP practices in England, told Digital Health News that the issue was not caused by a technical fault, but the firm has restricted which codes can be selected to prevent future errors.

“At Accurx, we’re committed to supporting primary care as teams continue to work under immense pressure. 

“We’ve worked closely with NHS England to respond to an issue where some vaccination codes were incorrectly selected during patient invitations,” Haddad added.

Some patients were incorrectly coded as having received vaccines when they had not, meaning that they would not receive follow-up invitations.

GP practices affected have been asked to review records to correct patients’ vaccination status and ensure that they are re-invited if necessary. 

The issue is understood to mainly relate to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccinations, but some other vaccinations have also been affected. 

Wes Streeting, health secretary, said in a written parliamentary statement that there is “currently no evidence” that anyone has been harmed as a result of the errors.

“Not everyone whose record has been affected will have missed out on a vaccination, as an initial vaccination invitation will have been sent out and a direct invitation is not the only route to securing a vaccination,” Streeting said.

He added: “Accurx has amended its clinical coding to prevent this happening again. 

“GP practices affected will review patient records, to make sure anyone due a vaccination that hasn’t received one is offered one as soon as possible and that records are accurate and up to date.

“On average, an affected GP practice will have to review less than 200 cases and NHS England and ICBs will support them in this process.

“A detailed root cause analysis will be carried out to ensure we learn from this and avoid similar issues in the future.”

A spokesperson for NHSE said: “We have identified an IT issue which led to some people’s GP records incorrectly showing them as having received vaccines, mainly affecting RSV vaccinations.

“All patients due a vaccination will have received their invitation as normal, and GP practices are now reviewing and correcting records – and will send reminders to anyone who did not take up their vaccine offer.”