Glitch blocks heart patient appointments

By REBECCA WALSH health reporter

More than 300 heart patients at Middlemore Hospital were not given their next specialist appointment because of a systems failure.

Dr Jeff Garrett, clinical director of medicine at Middlemore, said the problem was confined to cardiac out-patient clinic appointments, and no one had died as a result.

The hospital has notified the Ministry of Health and it has asked all district health boards to check their procedures for managing out-patient appointments.

A total of 354 patients with chronic heart conditions ranging from congestive heart failure to arrhythmias were affected out of the 4000 booked for review each year.

The problem was discovered in mid-July by a quality assurance audit, and was partly a computer system failure and partly human error in ensuring the system was working properly.

Eleven of the 354 people who did not receive an appointment had died.

But Dr Garrett said three separate reviews of the patients' records indicated they did not die as a result of not being seen by a specialist.

The reviews were done by the patients' GPs, a Middlemore cardiologist and another cardiologist.

"We have spoken to all the GPs and none of them felt their patients were disadvantaged by missing the cardiology patient clinic," Dr Garrett said.

He said people should not be concerned, as GPs were always the first point of contact.

The specialists provided support to the GP managing a patient's condition. In some cases, GPs had referred patients back or patients had rung saying they should have had another appointment.

Letters had been sent to the patients and GPs alerting them to the problem, and extra clinics had been set up.

Dr Garrett said he did not want to "apportion blame" but the system was not as robust as it should have been.

The computer software, which was from North America, would be re-written and thorough administrative checks made to back it up.



The Ministry of Health's deputy director general of clinical services, Dr Colin Feek, said the ministry was confident the hospital was addressing the issue.

It appeared the problem was confined to Middlemore but the ministry was working with the Counties Manukau District Health Board to ensure any lessons learned were shared with other boards.

It had also asked all boards to check the business processes they had to manage out-patient appointments.

* Anyone with concerns can contact (0800) 277-1661.