The figures quoted for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals foundation trust in your article 'Missing: the notes of more than a million outpatients' are misleading, writes Jackie France

In the table, the trust was listed as having problems locating 18.7 per cent of our outpatient records. However, the data provided in Northern Lincolnshire and Goole's audit was misinterpreted.

The figure cited in your table referred to records which were discovered to be either misfiled or in the wrong location at the time of the audit - not those that were unavailable at the start of a clinic.

The information provided identified that only one set of records had to be duplicated prior to the clinic and all others were found in time for the clinic, meaning the percentage of records within the clinic on time would have been 99.5 per cent.

At Northern Lincolnshire and Goole we are making great efforts to improve the availability and correct tracing of patient records, which is why we carried out such a detailed audit exercise in the first place.

Jackie France, head of patient administration, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals foundation trust