Medical records ‘the same as in Victorian times’

All medical records should be computerised, according to the new president of the Irish Medical Organisation, who described the current situation as a “disgrace’’.

Matthew Sadlier claimed that the recording and dispersal of information was not all that different from the 19th century.

When patients are admitted to hospital emergency departments, it could take hours, even days, to get their health records from their GPs, or another hospital they attended. “This leads often to critical decisions being made by the patient or their family on remembered treatments at what is often a very critical time,” said Dr Sadlier. “In one of the smallest countries in the developed world, this is a disgrace.