First reported 20 May 2021•Latest report 18 Apr 2024
Definition
What this concern includes
Includes failures of electronic clinical-record validation controls, including point-of-entry plausibility checks, challenge or correction of erroneous data, timely post-entry validation, and related audit or system controls where these directly determine whether clinical-record data is reliable for patient-safety decisions.
Not included
Excludes general electronic-record information-access, display, interoperability or clinical-action failures where record validation is not itself deficient.
Excludes generic documentation, training, staffing or governance deficiencies unless they directly impair validation of electronic clinical records.
Excludes failures to review or act on accurate clinical-record information after validation has been completed.
Excludes non-clinical records and validation processes unrelated to electronic clinical or patient-care records.
Reports
2
Distinct published reports
Individual concerns
2
A report can raise multiple concerns
Date range
2021–2024
First to latest report issue date
Stated actions
4
Described in published responses
Reports over time
Reports over time
Reports about this concern issued each year.
* 2026 is projected from reports observed to 7 Sep 2026.
Most frequent recipients
Most frequent recipients
Reports about this concern sent to each recipient.
Cegedim Healthcare Solutions1
Egton Medical Information Systems Limited1
EMIS Group1
Joint GP IT Committee1
NHS England1
North East London NHS Foundation Trust1
The Phoenix Partnership (Leeds) Ltd1
Company1
Executive non-departmental public body1
Health professional committee1
NHS trust1
Private limited company1
Sub-organisation1
Concerns and responses across reports
Only concerns grouped under this recurring concern are included. Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.
West Yorkshire Eastern
Concerns raised1
Failure of general practice IT systems to validate or challenge potential data input errors at the point of entry
Responses linked to these concerns
Each statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.4
Action
Maintain point-of-entry validation restricting extreme height, weight and calculated BMI values in SystmOne.
Stated by The Phoenix Partnership (Leeds) LtdStated completedThe respondent said that this action was complete when they made their response on 29 April 2024.
Action
Contact NHS England separately about validation of calculated BMI data in GP IT systems.
Stated by The Phoenix Partnership (Leeds) LtdStated plannedThe respondent said that this action was planned when they made their response on 29 April 2024.
Action
Ask NHS England to consider coordinating funded clinical-safety workshops to document causes, identify controls and define professional requirements for safer system behaviour.
Stated by Royal College of General PractitionersStated plannedThe respondent said that this action was planned when they made their response on 29 April 2024.
Action
Ask NHS England to report to the Joint GPIT Committee on addressing the concerns through changes to existing supplier-contract standards and capabilities.
Stated by Royal College of General PractitionersStated plannedThe respondent said that this action was planned when they made their response on 29 April 2024.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.8
Position
Existing EMIS Web functionality is sufficient to mitigate the specific data-entry risk, so no further software development is required.
Stated by EMIS GroupExisting arrangements considered sufficientThe respondent said that existing arrangements were sufficient, so no further action was needed.
Position
GP IT systems are centrally assured against the GP IT Futures Framework and statutory clinical safety standards require consideration of data-entry and transmission hazards.
Stated by NHS EnglandExisting arrangements considered sufficientThe respondent said that existing arrangements were sufficient, so no further action was needed.
Position
Cross-domain validation of automatically calculated BMI is not currently implementable, and implementation would present substantial challenges and further clinical risks requiring balanced assessment.
Stated by NHS EnglandUnable to actThe respondent said that a constraint prevented them from taking the relevant action.
Position
SystmOne already validates height, weight and BMI ranges, and must permit unusually high BMI values when clinically accurate.
Stated by The Phoenix Partnership (Leeds) LtdDisputes the concernThe respondent disagreed with part of the concern or the basis for it.
Position
Any additional BMI validation requirements should be set nationally by NHS England to ensure consistency across GP systems.
Stated by The Phoenix Partnership (Leeds) LtdRedirects responsibilityThe respondent said that another organisation was responsible for deciding or taking action.
Position
Age-sensitive BMI functionality has not been developed because it is not currently required under NHS framework agreements.
Stated by Cegedim Healthcare SolutionsUnable to actThe respondent said that a constraint prevented them from taking the relevant action.
Position
Building validation of multiple GP-record data items was not feasible within the Covid-19 programme’s speed, safety and delivery constraints.
Stated by Royal College of General PractitionersUnable to actThe respondent said that a constraint prevented them from taking the relevant action.
Position
Completely preventing entry of a BMI of 68.97 may not be appropriate, limiting use of exclusion thresholds as a data-entry control.
Stated by Royal College of General PractitionersUnable to actThe respondent said that a constraint prevented them from taking the relevant action.
East London
Concerns raised1
Delays in validating electronic medical records
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concerns
Each statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
No linked response statements
No respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.