Missing medical records among hundreds of documentation incidents

PATIENT records believed lost, missing test results and files that could not be located have featured in more than 300 reports of documentation problems in the Health Department since 2021.

The figures – which were published yesterday following a freedom-of-information request – cover January 2021 to August 2026 and include 13 incidents categorised as “records believed lost”, 36 as “records missing” and 18 as “records deleted/missing”.

A further 17 involved missing test results or reports, five were recorded as “unable to locate record” and two concerned records not being traced correctly.

The largest category, accounting for 195 of the 286 incidents, covers “missing, inadequate or illegible care record”.

The Health Department stressed that this includes other documentation problems and should not be treated solely as a count of missing records.

All incidents were classified as involving either “no harm” or “low harm”, with those assessments relating to physical harm.

None constituted a data breach requiring notification to the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner.

The Health Department, which manages around 120,000 physical medical record files, explained that records can become temporarily unavailable when their movements have not been correctly completed or updated on its electronic patient record system.

Files may therefore be reported as missing or misplaced even if they are subsequently found.

The department said its figures capture incidents “irrespective of subsequent location and/or the transience of their unavailability”.

Asked to distinguish between records permanently lost and those recovered after a delay, the Health Department said the outcome of each incident could not be extracted directly from its reporting system.

That would require a manual review of individual investigations, which it said would exceed the statutory time limit.

One complaint relating to missing or misplaced records was recorded between June 2025 and August 2026.

The department declined to provide a breakdown showing whether records were recovered or permanently lost, saying that checking individual investigations would exceed the time allowed under freedom of information rules.