Computer Glitch Forces Royal Surrey to Revert to Paper for Patient Appointments

Published on: 8 Dec, 2017
Updated on: 12 Dec, 2017

The Royal Surrey County Hospital had to revert to a paper-based appointment system today when its Patient Administration System (PAS) computer system computerised system developed a problem.

The malfunction was spotted following a planned upgrade to the IT system when some staff were unable to book patient appointments electronically. The hospital immediately introduced a backup paper-based system and has taken steps to minimise the impact on patients.

A press release said: “Progress continues to be made and no operations have been cancelled and urgent clinic appointments, for example for cancer, have not been affected. The Royal Surrey is working closely with the system supplier, Allscripts, to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”

Bob Peet, chief operating officer for the hospital, said: “We are obviously very disappointed that the system upgrade has not gone smoothly, despite a lot of detailed planning ahead of the implementation. We immediately put in place our paper-based process, alongside our electronic system.

“Our priority is to keep the impact on our patients to a minimum. This may have caused delays in some of our clinics and we are very sorry if this has caused any inconvenience to our patients.

“We are grateful to all of our patients for their patience and understanding. We must also pay tribute to our staff for their tireless efforts to minimise the disruption for patients and thank them for their hard work.”