Patients’ records – vital to the delivery of their care – have been relocated to a new building at Walsall Manor Hospital as the service works to transfer to an electronic system.

The Health Records Team at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust retrieves and prepares records as required for both outpatient clinics and inpatient episodes of care. It also co-ordinates all patient information requests including Subject Access Requests.

The service had outgrown its current location and needed new facilities to help keep up with the volume of records. New racking has been installed and upgraded to electronic racking which will reduce manual handling. There is also additional space to house the new scanning bureau which will support the Trust’s digital plan of moving to electronic records.

Sam Smith, Group Head of Health Records Services at Walsall Healthcare and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: “We are all really excited to move into this new location as this gives the service the space required to improve accessibility and availability of records and support the Trust’s digital strategy.

“It will benefit staff as it creates a workspace that is fit for purpose and has improved working conditions. It will also benefit patients as it will help improve record availability and, when patients come into the department to request or collect health records, they will have a reception area to wait in.”

Lauren Groves, Group Deputy Head of Health Records Services, added: “This is a really positive and exciting change for the whole service. This is a fantastic environment for all of our teams to work in to provide a 24/7 service. Not only do we now have a purpose built space to house our current records, but it also provides the facilities required to support the Trust’s frontline digitisation strategy.

Caroline Walker, Interim Group Chief Executive, described the service as “a vital part in the delivery of patient care.”

She said: “Thank you to all the teams involved in getting this building up and running to house this important library and a huge well done to the staff who work in Health Records for all that they do, and will continue to do, to support the move to digital.”