Close But No Cigar!

The Healthcare Commission asked UBHT / University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust for copies of Hari's notes in Autumn 2008.



Initially the trust engineered another delay by 'misunderstanding' the request. Eventually the copies of the notes should have been with the Healthcare Commission by the last week in November. Obviously the trust failed to comply.


After some time the trust finally managed to send copies of the complaint file but no medical notes. These were supposed to follow swiftly!


Finally the copies of the notes were posted to the Healthcare Commission in the last few days before Christmas 2008.


Or were they?


By January 6th 2009 we had received no confirmation that the Healthcare Commission had received the copies of the notes. We felt that even Royal Mail could have got them there in this time, so I e-mailed Ian Howe to enquire whether or not he had actually received them.


His reply held no surprises.



He had received SOME of the notes!



Apparently some of the notes were missing and despite continued attempts to locate them they had not been found.


Do you suppose that they have looked carefully in the direction of the shredder?


After making further enquiries I finally discovered that the missing section dates from 2007 onwards. SO - UBHT / University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust appears to have mislaid the very section of the notes that relates to the complaint. They appear to have lost all records of her January 2008 admission and all records relating to her subsequent eviction from paediatrics.


Why are we not surprised?


Well we are not surprised at all - we had expected something like this.


DON'T PANIC!!!!!


We had the sense to access the notes and obtain copies BEFORE making the complaint. So we have been able to supply the Healthcare Commission with copies of the missing section today.
OK we had plans for this afternoon and had to cancel them in order to e-mail hundreds of copies to the Healthcare Commission - but at least they now have the section that the trust had 'lost'.


My eldest daughter's response to this latest little farce was simply:


"Nice Try Guys!"


Hari's response was:


"Close but no cigar !"


Time for a sing along folks - all together now..........


' You came close
Close but no cigar
You didn't miss by far
You know you came this close
Close but no cigar'


We were at least ten steps ahead of them all the way!!!!!!!!