Hospital to 'tag' patient records

All patient records at a hospital will be fitted with electronic tags after a number of them went missing while being moved between departments.

In the scheme, which should start this month, a computer will register every time a record at Walsall's Manor Hospital goes past a sensor.

The hospital admitted staff currently "often spend ages" looking for records.

"Records have got to follow a patient very quickly around the system," chief executive Sue James said.

"The system for tracking them in the past was designed to accommodate a much slower throughput of patients.

"Now we are finding that the notes are not keeping up with the patients' progress and that is causing problems."

The hospital was not able to say how much the initiative will cost nor how many records have gone missing.