10:45am UK, Thursday August 19, 2004

Patients' lives are being put at risk because letters from doctors are being sent to India to be typed, it has been claimed.       

Eight NHS hospitals are using the services of private company Omnimedical - which uses overseas workers - to make up for secretarial shortages.

180 doctors gp examination patient nhs check-up

Letters are being mistyped

The Association Of Medical Secretaries claims it has led to several typing gaffes which could lead to medical errors being made.      

It said below-knee amputation typed by an Indian secretary became a "baloney amputation".         

A man's phlebitis (inflammation of the vein) became "a flea bite in his left leg".         

The ear problem eustachian tube malfunction was described as "Euston Station tube malfunction" and another note referred to "a cute angina" instead of acute angina.         

The sex drug Viagra was typed up as "Niagra".         

Association spokesman Michael Fiennes said the errors could lead to the wrong type of treatment being given.         

"I have no doubt the secretaries in India are good secretaries, but they are not medical secretaries familiar with medical terms," he said.         

Indian secretaries are paid around a third of the £14,000-a-year earned by UK medical secretaries.         

A spokesman at St George's Hospital, London, which uses the Indian service, said: "The transcription service is secure and confidential, and there are rigorous safeguards to ensure accuracy."