St. Olav’s Hospital goes through 16,438 letters that never reached patients or GPs. In 21 of the cases, the letter chaos may have had consequences for the follow-up of the patients.
Case is updated.
On 7 March, it became known that 16,438 electronic letters from St. Olav’s hospital never reached patients or GPs.
The reason is a fault with the electronic record system Helseplattformen, which St. Olav’s introduced in November.
Now a group of ten medical specialists is in the process of reviewing the contents of the 16,438 letters.
On Monday 13 March, they got through 6,316 letters. Of these, 21 letters were found which “contain information that may have had consequences for the follow-up of the patients, the hospital writes in a press release.
– Worrying
The managing director at St Olav’s hospital says it is worrying that the letters have not arrived.
– What consequences could the letter error have had for the 21 patients?
– There may be delays in further follow-up and treatment of the patients. But fortunately, several of these patients have nevertheless been followed up as a consequence of other communication, writes Grethe Aasved in an e-mail to VG.
When asked whether the errors concern referrals, summons or test results, the hospital manager refers to the answer above.
The 21 cases were uncovered in the review that is now being carried out. So far, the 10 medical specialists have plowed through close to half of the pile.
– How serious are the consequences for these 21 cases?
– It is difficult to say anything about. An individual assessment of measures is made in relation to the individual patient.
The remaining 7,144 letters will be sent out, says Aasved.
On Thursday 9 March, the head of the Health Platform resigned. It happened after an agreement between managing director Torbjørg Vanvik and the board of Helse Midt-Norge.
The company representative at St. Olav’s Hospital has previously described the situation as very stressful for the employees at St. Olav’s Hospital.
– We are concerned about patient safety and experience the solution as unsafe. We don’t have good enough control over the information about the patient, we don’t know whether messages reach the right person or in the right way, union representative Vivi Bakkeheim told VG.
