– The patient arrived for treatment in good time, but it was with a cry of distress. That’s what senior doctor Jens Erik Slagsvold at the Cancer Clinic at St. Olav says. He is one of those who, in the past year, has notified the Norwegian Health Authority about a serious incident at St. Olav. In many similar cases, important patient information has not been discovered or has not been properly handled, as a result of the new patient record system Helseplattformen. news has gained access to several cases affecting cancer patients. A woman in her 30s with cervical cancer had both diagnosis and treatment delayed by four months, as a result of important information in the Health Platform not being captured at St. Olav. This is one of several serious warnings, which means that the Cancer Society makes a clear appeal to patients in central Norway. Secretary General Ingrid Stenstadvold Ross of the Cancer Society asks patients in central Norway to be their own watchdog, if they fear a cancer diagnosis. Photo: Maria Olivia Rivedal Large scope – Don’t wait too long for a response from St. Olav’s hospital if you fear a cancer diagnosis! This is what Ingrid Stenstadvold Ross, secretary general of the Cancer Society, says. – We know statistically that getting a delayed diagnosis can lead to a worse prognosis and a more serious course of cancer. Sometimes it can cause people to die. The state administrator in Trøndelag shares the concern. Notifications of serious incidents, also related to cancer patients, have increased sharply since the Health Platform was put into use on 12 November last year. – The scope is clearly greater than what we have seen previously, and the cases throughout seem to be connected with the introduction of the Health Platform. That’s what county doctor Jan Vaage says. – There are several issues that give cause for concern. Regardless of the actual outcome, the failure that has been uncovered is of a type that in other cases could have had very serious consequences. County doctor Jan Vaage says they have received several notifications about patients who have received delayed follow-up for cancer because messages have not arrived. Photo: Rune A. Hansen / news Delayed cancer treatment The state administrator has opened a supervisory case after the woman in her 30s with cervical cancer had her treatment delayed by four months. According to the notice, the woman’s GP requested that the woman get an appointment at St. Olav within two weeks, but lack of transparency in the Health Platform means that this information is not displayed. It takes four months before this is detected, and the woman then receives a delayed cancer diagnosis and a possible loss of prognosis. In several of the notifications, which news has had access to, it is indicated that messages entered into the Health Platform have not arrived. A man in his 60s with bowel cancer was not followed up, although spread was detected during an outpatient examination. Only two months later is this discovered by the treating senior physician, and the patient has massive spread to both the lungs, liver and glands. This case was notified to the Norwegian Health Authority by senior physician Jens Erik Slagsvold at the Cancer Clinic at St. Olav in May. This shows that information between departments internally at St. Olav is not captured. Summoning of cancer patients who are already in a course is also missed. A lot of frustration – The patient arrived for treatment in good time, but it was with a cry of distress. He had an unnecessary amount of pain during that period, says Slagsvold. He says they are incredibly frustrated with the new journal system, and feel that their input is not being heard. – We had such lapses in the old system as well, but this was supposed to be so much safer. We have reported a lot of deviations after go live, but errors that were reported many months ago have still not been corrected. Slagsvold says it is important that the patients are active themselves, especially when the dialogue takes place between the hospitals. There may be an error in the system which means that they are not notified. – It saves many scandals. Gullible people in Trondheim believe that everything is fine when they don’t hear anything, says Slagsvold. Manual measures Patients who were due for a new check-up at St. Olav after throat cancer are not called in due to an error in the Health Platform. The patient was later admitted with spread to the brain, lungs, liver, spleen and abdomen, but not to the throat. According to the notice, spread would not have been discovered if he had come for a check-up earlier, and that in any case it would not have provided any prognostic benefit for the patient. The state administrator has been notified of several similar cases, and takes a very serious view that patients are not receiving the correct treatment as a result of essential information entered into the Health Platform not being detected. – Fortunately, there seem to be improvements when it comes to an overview of message lists, and the hospital has initiated manual measures to gain an overview and control. This does not mean that we can declare the hospital healthy yet. In any case, it makes sense to keep reminding if you don’t get a summons at the expected time, says county doctor Jan Vaage. According to hospital director Grethe Aasved at St. Olav, the Cancer Clinic has also notified that patient safety may be threatened. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news – Very serious At St. Olav, patient safety is threatened at ten clinics. The cancer clinic is among them. – The introduction of the Health Platform gave us problems with referrals from GPs and between departments in the hospital. Unfortunately, this has meant that some cancer patients have not received answers as quickly as they should have. This is very serious. That’s what hospital director Grethe Aasved at St. Olav’s hospital says. – Is there a big risk to patient safety in the Cancer Clinic? – Both the Cancer Clinic and other departments have good routines to ensure proper operation. This applies not least to the waiting lists. The cancer clinic has nevertheless flagged that patient safety may be threatened, says Aasved. She goes on to say that this is primarily about the fact that the new record system demands a lot from the employees. – A cumbersome workflow, combined with a large volume of patients and a lot of manual work, means that employees start to get very tired. According to Trond Utne, acting managing director of Helseplattformen AS, there have been several cases of failure in the follow-up of work lists that take care of the message flow in the last six months. Photo: Morten Waagø / news Errors in the message flow It is well known that there have been challenges in the message flow after the solution was put into use, particularly related to the handling of epicrises, referrals and requisitions. – The vast majority of errors in the solution have been resolved for a long time, but systematic work is still ongoing to verify that there are no more errors in the message flow itself. That’s what Trond Utne, acting managing director of Helseplattformen AS, says. – At the same time, in the last six months, there have been several cases of failure in the follow-up of work lists that ensure the flow of messages. In order to ensure that the actors have full control over their work lists, work was started in September with a common overview of all work lists with the person responsible for each individual list. The updated responsibility matrix was adopted in October, so that the follow-up of lists for which the actors are responsible is now clearly located. There is a great deal of frustration among employees at St. Olav about the record system Helseplattformen. Much remains to be done for the system to become user-friendly. Photo: Morten Waagø / news Urges people to be watchdogs The Cancer Association believes it is alarming that the hospital, one year after the new record system was put into use, is still struggling to keep track. – I am shocked by the stories that come to light. This is completely unsustainable, and a situation that we expect the Minister of Health to use all conceivable resources to clean up. It is urgent for the patients, who may risk a worse prognosis. The Norwegian Cancer Society has followed this case for a year, and is not reassured by what they have seen so far. – For now, my most important message to people is that they must be vigilant if they need feedback from the hospital. They have to take extra care in their own lives right now. Hospital director Grethe Aasved believes that it is both natural and important that patients monitor themselves closely. – The fact that the staff are vigilant, and that the patients follow along themselves, means that we have managed to handle the unforeseen problems. Explanatory video about the Health Platform.
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The Cancer Society asks patients in Central Norway to be their own watchdog because of the Health Platform – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
