Dear Seema,
In my opinion, you as a HR professional need to set aside emotions and sympathy and approach the problem without any prejudice (she is an orphan, what happens if she loses her job etc.,). Many a times employees trade accusations against each other, but if you need to nip it once and for all, you need to pick up one case and go the bottom of it. Grill all the persons concerned and find out the cause for the problem. But this has to be done immediately after you receive the complaint, because employees tend to forget the sequence of events or atleast pretend to, if the process is delayed. In one case, if you able to establish the facts and record it, then these sort of trivial matters will start coming down.
If employees find that you are transparent, unbiased, easily approachable, pragmatic, logical, emphatic, matters can be dealt relatively easily. I am not saying that you will be able to establish the exact cause for every incident but if you are able to establish the root cause in atleast one or two instances, there will be more trust in you.
In this instance, first find out
1. Who is the primary custodian of the patient's file?
2. Who brought this file from the custodian to the reception?
3. What evidence is available to take out the file from the custodian? Does the employee sign that he is taking the files.
4. What time was the file taken to the reception?
5. What was the reporting time of the two employees in dispute?
6. What is their primary scope of work? In the sense who is supposed to handle patient's file?
7. Who is the custodian of the patient's file in the reception?
8. When was it noticed that the file was missing?
9. At this time where were these two employees engaged? Is there any evidence that they were working in the said spot, does any co - worker or employee give evidence for it.
10. Who first reported that the file was missing and to whom?
11. Was the file traced later? If so by whom?
The questions can be endless based on the situation and reaction of the employees. If you are able to identify the employee responsible for the mistake, tell her that her action has brought disrepute to the hospital,being a service industry, if patients don't trust the file protocol procedure, there is every possibility that the patient may not come back to the hospital, furthermore, he/ she may spread the message by word of mouth and this can tarnish the image of the hospital. Thereafter advise her to refrain from such activity.
After the process is over, draft a procedure for handling of patients file and laterally think if this procedure can be horizontally deployed across the organisation elsewhere. Fix responsibility upon the positions (not on individuals). Once you start establishing procedures, such lapses are unlikely to occur.
Thereafter, conduct an audit in various departments and establish process/ procedures with clearly defined responsibilities across the organisation.
This is what ISO certification is all about.
Regards
M.V.Kannan