Doctor asked for Ian’s wife, months after she died (From Gazette)

Doctor asked for Ian’s wife, months after she died

8:00am Friday 30th July 2010

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A WIDOWER wants companies providing out-of-hours NHS doctors to change their procedures – after an admin error led to an upsetting call for his late wife.

Ian Love, 63, was shocked and badly shaken when an out-of-hours doctor phoned, claiming his dead wife, Jean, had requested an emergency visit. Mrs Love died, aged 62, last December.

Mr Love says the current system must change to ensure patients’ records are removed from the system when they die.

The doctor who called earlier this month had been sent her details by Harmoni, the healthcare company which runs North Colchester Medical Centre and which sent doctors to Mrs Love during her two-year battle with cancer.

Mr Love, of Main Road, Dovercourt, said: “I was at home, watching TV, and the phone rang at about five past ten.

“A doctor asked to speak to my wife. The first thing I told him was I thought he must be joking.

“But he was convinced she had made an emergency call, as her details had come up on his screen. Eventually, I managed to convince him she was dead.

“I was extremely upset and shaken. I was just starting to get over my wife’s death and this call brought it all up again.”

After making a complaint through his local surgery, Mr Love was sent a letter from Harmoni, promising a full investigation.

He said: “My main beef is that nowhere does it say in the letter her details would be taken off the system.

“I’m worried it could happen to someone in their eighties and it could send them over the edge.

“I’ve had problems with Harmoni before. On the night my wife died, the Marie Curie cancer nurse called Harmoni to get a doctor at about 10pm.

“We had to make a second call at midnight and one eventually turned up at 3.30am.

“I’m not blaming the doctors at all, but I hope my story will encourage Harmoni to review its processes.”

Harmoni’s letter admitted the call had been a “terrible mistake”, but said the company had a legal obligation to hold patients’ details on file.

It added: “Unfortunately, a call handler accidentally logged a patient’s call under your wife’s previous details. The call handler realised within minutes, but before she had the opportunity to access and change patient records, the doctor had already contacted you.

“The call handler and the doctor would both like to pass on their sincere apologies for the upset and distress this incident has caused you.”

The Gazette was unable to get a comment from Harmoni about the case.

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