A response to Jon Ungoed-Thomas' article for the Guardian "Revealed: key files shredded as UK government panic grew over infected blood deaths lawsuit"
In Jon Ungoed-Thomas' article for the Guardian "Revealed: key files shredded as UK government panic grew over infected blood deaths lawsuit" (published on Sunday 5th May) two issues arise regarding the proper keeping of records.
UK Government records
The UK Government acknowledges that records were destroyed when they should not have been and attributes the decision to dispose of these files to 'an inexperienced member of staff'.
It is clear that the UK Government then, and now, apply the Public Record Act 1958 inconsistently and that those tasked with managing these records were not properly qualified to do so. Other instances of this poor records management, such as the lost of records essential to the Windrush generation, demonstrate that this is not an isolated incident.
The Campaign for Records recognises that good record keeping is essential to fair and open government and underpins faith in democratic institutions. It calls for an overhaul of the Public Records legislation in England and Wales and for investment to be made in the expertise and resources that will prevent this from happening again. People's lives have been directly affected by an unprofessional and under-resourced approach to recordkeeping resulting in a lack of consistency in adhering to both regulations and guidelines.
Trust in Government continues to erode and appearing to destroy, rather than preserve, evidence will make matters worse.
NHS Records
The second issue relates to NHS records - the regulatory framework covering what should and should not happen to medical records is far from clear and is unhelpful to overworked and underfunded NHS workers when it comes to properly managing and archiving records in a way that makes them simple to retrieve when requested either by inquiries, such as the Contaminated Blood inquiry, or individuals seeking them for a variety of other purposes.
We know from an NHS whistleblower that disregard for proper recordkeeping and a need to save money and cut corners means that in one NHS Trust records requested by the Contaminated Blood Inquiry had still not been located two years after they were first requested.
The Public Records Act Scotland 2011 shows what can be done - particularly for the health service - members of the Archives and Records Association, working in the NHS there, report increased efficiency and a much greater ability to carry out their jobs when the legislation lays out clearly what must happen. There is no room for senior managers to cut corners or put recordkeeping issues at the bottom of the pile.
Managing and archiving records is rarely seen as a priority and it is not until a vital record needs to be retrieved, and is found to be missing, that its importance is revealed. In the case of the victims of the contaminated blood scandal, poor recordkeeping has delayed compensation and justice for people for whom time is running out - and in some cases that justice will come too late.
This news item was sent out by the Campaign for Records team.