I was out of the practice last thursday. On friday morning the practice
manager told me that someone from the finance dept. at the HA had been in the
practice for 5 hours to verify our claims and had asked to inspect patient
records to verify night visits. She said she had allowed this as "they had a
letter of verification". They had not left a copy of this letter so I rang
the HA and asked for a copy to be faxed over. 3 hours later --no response--
another phone call met with the response that the letter would not be
released and if I had a complaint to put it in writing to the HA.
I find this amazing-- as far as I'm concerned the only person who can
authorise the release of their records is the patient. If the HA want to
verify claims they can ask the patient as the old FHSA used to.
I am very disturbed by this action which flouts an agreement with the LMC
that if it were ever necessary to inspect records it would only be by
medically qualified HA staff who had the same principles of confidentiality.
Needless to say this will be an ongoing discussion with the HA and I will
keep the list informed if anyone is interested but has anyone else had
problems like this? I would appreciate any info regarding policies/problems
in other areas .
Thanks Margaret Jones GP South Staffs
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