NHS numbers still require treatment

Thousands of new-born babies are being issued with duplicate NHS numbers, months after the problem first came to light.

To date, more than 10,000 babies have been issued with a duplicate number, but the NHS Executive claims this is a small figure compared with the total number issued. It accepts, however, that the problem must be solved by April, when the system goes live. If not, 'other complications could arise', according to a progress report.

The NHS Executive report, Correction of Non-unique and Invalid New NHS Numbers for Babies, released last week, found that, on average, 100 duplicates are issued each week. This affects about 2% of the new-born population.

The Executive blames the system's operators for the problem, but plans to amend the Registration Services System software next April to reduce the chance of duplicate numbers. It will release another fix in October, which it hopes will address the remaining known errors.

A spokesman said: 'There has been service support and training for registrars and that has reduced the duplicates.'

The NHS Executive acknowledged that its proposals are short-term fixes, but said a total rewrite would take much longer and would not be cost effective. In any case, the system will have to undergo major changes in the near future to make it millennium compliant, the report said.

Ray Rogers, executive director of the NHS Executive, told healthcare officials at last month's Exchanging Healthcare Information 96 conference in Manchester that the project had gone well. 'The minor problem of duplicate numbers is still there ... we will correct it, it's not as bad as suggested.'