EMIS rebuts coroner’s criticism

EMIS has rebutted criticism from a coroner following the death of a female prisoner in Holloway Prison in London.

City of London coroner Paul Matthews criticised the fact that it is possible to add information retrospectively into the EMIS system, after an inquest into the death of 34 year old Annemarie Cox, who hanged herself.

The coroner’s court heard that Cox, who suffered from schizophrenia, died nine days after she was due to be given a regular dose of an anti-psychotic drug. 

It also heard that a prison nurse made a retrospective entry into the EMIS prison system, falsely recording that she had given Cox her medication before her death.

The coroner claimed the ability to add information retrospectively was “a matter of some concern.”

He wrote to health secretary Andy Burnham stating: "It is vital for the health and safety of patients that entries in EMIS are accurate not only in their content but in their timing and authorship. It should not be possible to make an entry in the EMIS system which tells a lie about itself.”

The court heard that after suspicions were raised, an electronic audit revealed that the entry had not been made on 21 June as it appeared, but that it was instead made some hours after Cox’s death.

EMIS has pointed out that audit trails enable discrepancies in the timing of entries to be spotted.

Dr Shaun O’Hanlon, clinical director for EMIS, said: “In common with all other NHS-approved computer systems, the EMIS system allows both contemporaneous and retrospective entry of information.

“Crucially, it also has a full audit trail which highlights the exact time and date of every entry into a patient’s medical record – which in this case enabled the alleged falsification to be identified."

The Guardian newspaper claimed the governor of Holloway Prison has ordered an investigation into the incident and that the nurse has been suspended pending a joint inquiry by the prison and Islington PCT.

A spokesperson for the DH told EHI Primary Care: ““We are looking at the issues raised and will be responding to the coroner in due course.”

Dr O’Hanlon said: “We have not yet been contacted by any of the organisations involved in this investigation, but we will of course co-operate fully in the production and assessment of evidence.”