26 June 2023

The Records Team would like to remind all teams that they must retain everything of potential relevance to the National Inquiries until the inquiries are complete.

This includes Blood Inquiry, Covid 19 Inquiry, Independent Inquiry into David Fuller and the local Kirkup review. As well as patient, staff and Occupational Health records, divisional arrangements and documentation, all correspondence, notes, emails, minutes, text messages, Teams Channels/Chat and any other information, however it is held (either electronic or paper).  This is Trust wide and covers all divisions (operational and corporate).

Documentation

The following list shows the sort of documents that may be in scope of the Inquiries. This list is only intended to be indicative, not exhaustive.  If there is uncertainty about a document, the Records Team can be contacted for advice.

  • All patient records (mental health, secure, learning disabilities, CAMHS, community, etc), whether the patients are living or deceased, including clinical reports and statements and any safeguarding/Covid-19 alerts
  • Vaccination logs and Infection Prevention and Control records
  • Minutes of meetings where decisions were made regarding the pandemic
  • Cleaning records and other Estates-related items (eg closure of buildings, signage, etc)
  • Communications with staff, volunteers, locums, etc
  • Communications with partner organisations, agencies and contractors
  • Communications with patients and other service users (eg carers)
  • Purchase orders and contracts
  • Material relevant to the development of policies and procedures
  • Material relevant to the development of IT systems and changes
  • Emails, text messages, MS Teams channels, etc
  • Decisions made at Gold, Silver and Bronze Command meetings
  • Incident reports (including serious incidents)
  • Staff records (including Occupational Health, local personnel files and central records held by Human Resources)
  • Correspondence in relation to the pandemic and any arrangements or agreements
  • Staff supervision notes
  • Any other appropriate documentation as determined by staff.

If you need any advice or support with this, email records@merseycare.nhs.uk.

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