Patient Records - Your Responsibilities

As a practise gets larger & larger the associated problems that you inherit increase with that growth. The Practise Manager finds it increasingly difficult to tend to his duties and look after the administration of the Practise. One of those areas of responsibility is the keeping of Records of Patients who are no longer regularly seen by the Doctor.

These records are not regularly accessed yet have to be kept for variety of reasons. They clog up the information highways of your business. In a litigious society there are more & more reasons for looking after those Patient Records in a secure environment yet away from the day to day running of the Practise.

The Practise also has the responsibility under the Data Protection Act 1998 to look after the information about third parties in a responsible manner.

Keeping Patient Records in a secure environment yet away from your premises is the perfect solution.

Keeping them off site has a number of obvious advantages.

* It releases space in the practise-that can be used more efficiently & profitably.

* It allows your administrators to pass on the responsibilities of filing, letting them get on with the jobs that they are employed to do.

* It protects the practise from the accusation of not looking after a Patients Files.

What are the criteria for looking for an Archiving Company that can look after these records?

* Sound management & reputation.

* Already looking after Patient Records.

* Solid background.

* Secure environment- reasonably close to the Practise.

* Able to offer retrievals 24/7.

* Responsible employees.

Speak to the Company that you intend to use. Create a Service Level Agreement-stating what you expect from each other. Send the Records off site and look for another Doctor to fill the vacant space!

Terry Cohen is a Director of Archival Record Management plc and has worked in the archiving industry for over 20 years.