Released 12 June 2024
Request:
In the next 20 days please provide us with the following information.
- Current policies relating to retention, storage, and destruction of records
- Information relating to whether handwritten notes taken during any attendance with a patient form part of the patient record and what happens to them.
- If there are no polices, we require information on what your trust does with the handwritten notes.
Information disclosed:
Please note University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has been in operation since 1 April 2021, following the merger of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Information about the Trust’s hospitals can be found on our website.
Whilst services continue to be aligned under the merged Trust, handwritten notes are dealt with differently in some of our hospitals and our response below reflects this.
Our response relevant to all hospitals under University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust is as follows:
1. The Trust does not have its own policy relevant to the retention, storage, and destruction of records, but follows the NHS England Records Management Code of Practice.
Our response relevant to Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton; Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath; Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Brighton and Sussex Eye Hospital, Brighton is as follows:
2-3. These hospitals continue to use paper records. All notes taken during a patient visit will be handwritten on official forms and will form part of the patient record. These forms are then filed by patient reference number for future reference, in line with the NHS England Records Management Code of Practice.
Our response relevant to St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester and Worthing Hospital, Worthing is as follows:
2-3. Handwritten notes are scanned into our Evolve document management system as part of the patient record. The physical note is then retained for a period between 1-3 months depending on whether it is scanned on site or by our external scanning firm. After this time the physical note is destroyed.