A mother has claimed that her daughter was left trapped in Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary due a failure in the hospital’s TRAK system that produces patient discharge letters and prescriptions.
She said that her daughter was due to be discharged on December 28 but that the technical glitch meant that she was unable to leave and had to stay in another night.
The mum, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that the issue had begun from at least 3pm on December 28.
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When she messaged Edinburgh Live on the evening of December 28, she said that the system was still not functioning.
She said that the system was back up and running at 3.20am but that her daughter had to wait 12 hours in the hospital ward before she could get the correct paperwork and medication that she needed to return home.
She said: “Patients have been waiting for discharge letters and prescriptions. They couldn't leave and were having to stay overnight. It had been like this since at least 3pm in the afternoon. My daughter couldn't get home after spending over a week there.
“We were desperate for her to get back to her partner and child. She had to wait close to 12 hours in the hospital ward, to get the paperwork and medication she required, before she could go home. The computer system subsequently was back online at 3.20am.
“Because it was down, no patient records could be accessed, nothing could be printed, no discharge letters or prescriptions. After several hours of waiting they reverted to a paper system but they still couldn't access patients' details.”
NHS Lothian acknowledged the technical failure but said that they had contingency plans in place that ensured that patients' needs could be safely met.
Dr Tracey Gillies, medical director at NHS Lothian, said: “Our digital teams worked quickly to restore our TrakCare healthcare information system after unplanned downtime on December 28.
“Well-rehearsed contingency plans were put in place to maintain patient safety and help with prescribing and medicine administration.
"Patients can be admitted, transferred and discharged manually using our standard operating procedure, based on paper, although this can take slightly longer than usual when full access to the system is not available.”
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