NHS Outsourcing Medical Record Processing to India – Mostly Transcription Services

The work that is being processed is transcribing dictated information to include appointment times and patient information. The solution here is to use speech recognition and perhaps set up a viral training program and make sure the physicians have it available throughout the country. There’s a lot of that that goes on in the US with dictation records being transcribed. Again, same answer, use technology and the need to send dictated records overseas will dwindle down.

As the article continues on, there is pressure to cut costs and perhaps instead of keeping the service as it was in tact with transcription services those involved could have been more aggressive in using technology but that doesn’t do much for the matter at hand. BD

THE NHS is sending millions of patient records and confidential medical notes to India for processing — despite a pledge by Labour that personal information would not be sent overseas.

It is the first time that databases of names, addresses and NHS numbers of patients have been sent abroad, along with private information about medical appointments.

NHS managers, under pressure to cut costs, are implementing the changes despite warnings about poor security in some offshore centres.

The Sunday Times has identified seven primary care trusts in northeast London, serving more than 1.5m people, that have begun to send patient details overseas. The databases are administered by about 200 workers in Pune, western India.

The recording is then transferred to a computer and sent to India, where it is transcribed. One source involved in processing the information said patient names can crop up during the appointment and may then inadvertently be included with the clinical data.

NHS sends confidential patient records to India - Times Online