Recurring concern
Unreliable recording and preservation of safety-relevant telephone calls
- Reports that mention this concern
- 8
- Times this concern has been raised
- 10
- Stated actions linked to this concern
- 4
What this concern includes
Includes failures of controls dedicated to recording, preserving, securely storing, retrieving or making available safety-relevant telephone calls, including calls involving detainees, patients or crisis services, where missing or inaccessible recordings can impair care, investigation or accountability.
What is not included
- Excludes generic documentation or records-management deficiencies that are not specifically tied to recording or preserving safety-relevant telephone calls.
- Excludes non-telephone audio, video, radio or CCTV recordings unless the report explicitly links them to the same telephone-call recording process.
- Excludes failures limited to reviewing, interpreting or acting on a recording that was reliably preserved and available.
- Excludes routine telephone calls with no identified safety, care, risk-management or investigative relevance.
Trends
Reports over time
Reports mentioning this concern, 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.
Reports and published responses 8 reports
See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response
-
Concerns raised2
Limited recording of telephone interactions with patients
Failure to provide accessible telephone call recordings for clinical review
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Department of Health and Social Care
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Recording all clinical calls is considered disproportionate; recording remains limited to NHS 111 and designated crisis-team lines.
-
Concerns raised2
Failure to retain recordings of calls for serious patient incident investigations
Failure to preserve recordings of calls between patients and the crisis call handler
This report raised 11 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
-
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Revise the patient-safety screening form to prompt retrieval and preservation of available patient-call recordings for investigations and inquests.
-
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Establish consistent, information-governance-compliant retrieval of relevant patient-call recordings by the Patient Safety team.
-
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Extend call-recording capability across designated crisis-pathway phone lines, including the identified CRHTT area.
-
Concerns raised1
Unavailability of verbatim recording for calls received by officers
This report raised 3 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Home Office
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
Home Office
Specific policing issues are for Greater Manchester Police, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing to address.
-
Concerns raised1
Failure to document critically important telephone calls regarding patients
This report raised 3 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
-
Concerns raised1
Failure to record consultant telephone advice
This report raised 19 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Department of Health and Social Care
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
Department of Health and Social Care
The Trust is responsible for setting out and implementing actions to address the identified maternity-service safety risks.
-
Concerns raised1
Inadequate storage of telephone recordings
This report raised 12 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- HM Prison and Probation Service
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.1
-
HM Prison and Probation Service
Review accounting systems and storage of internal investigation material to identify and rectify weaknesses.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
HM Prison and Probation Service
HMP Winchester had recordings of all telephone calls, although access was restricted because the listening system was encrypted.
-
Concerns raised1
Failure to record telephone calls and advice concerning discharged patients
This report raised 4 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
-
Concerns raised1
Unavailability of monitoring or recording of telephone calls
This report raised 1 other concern. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.
Data last updated 7 September 2026