hospital records

tanyard

anyone know if there is a legal length of time that hospitals must meet, when someone asks for a copy of their hospital records. thanks

In_For_A_Penny_2

Not sure if it is in statute but the standard is 40 days upon receipt of appropriate fee (approx £50).

RikM

https://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1309.aspx?categoryid=68
This suggests 40 days, but that it should be quicker...

In_For_A_Penny_2

You might find this useful (just one trust but covers important points)

http://www.setrust.hscni.net/pdf/Access_to_Records_leaflet_Jan_14.pdf

Note also there is a caveat, that a Trust can refuse if deemed not be in the patient's best interests (generally only in a mental health setting)

ChrisNI

You may also find this useful

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/personal-information/

[Deleted User]

In_For_A_Penny wrote: »

a Trust can refuse if deemed not be in the patient's best interests

"Records will not be supplied if:
Where disclosing the personal data would reveal information that had been provided by a third party with the clear expectation that it would never be passed on to the data subject
Where having all or some of the information is not in the best psychiatric interests of the patient or member of staff."
04086 Access to Health Records Policy

tanyard

thanks everyone for replies; I applied for hospital records on 18th nov, in writing and delivered by hand to appropriate dept. these were for relative who died suddenly in hospital and I am executor of will. mid Jan I received disks of previous old scans, not requested, and followed up with phone conversation that I was still awaiting copies of records covering 1 week stay in hospital in Oct, was told that record requests have to be signed off by consultant, and with Christmas and New Year there has been a delay. still received nothing. What is my next step. thanks

In_For_A_Penny_2

tanyard wrote: »

thanks everyone for replies; I applied for hospital records on 18th nov, in writing and delivered by hand to appropriate dept. these were for relative who died suddenly in hospital and I am executor of will. mid Jan I received disks of previous old scans, not requested, and followed up with phone conversation that I was still awaiting copies of records covering 1 week stay in hospital in Oct, was told that record requests have to be signed off by consultant, and with Christmas and New Year there has been a delay. still received nothing. What is my next step. thanks

Firstly, condolences for your loss.

I sense there are unanswered questions regarding your relatives death.

One option, if you have not already done so, might be to try and arrange a meeting with the consultant? A good consultant will be happy to have such a meeting and it might go a long way to addressing any concerns. At the very least it will help put the notes/results etc in context for when you do eventually receive them. He/she should provide some help in interpreting what otherwise may be an impenetrable and overwhelming set of test results.

With respect to the actual results, I am not sure why there is a delay unless there is some sort of internal review of what happened. I would imagine this is not uncommon in itself if a death has been unexpected.

A letter to the patient records office outlining the delay in processing your request might provide a more formal and informative response.

tanyard

the reason we have not asked to see Consultant is because within 1 hour of death, he asked to see us and said that if we had any questions he would see us at any day or time. obviously we had wanted to see the records before we would meet him to answer our questions. yes the death was very unexpected and we have phoned asking what the delay was, but that is now 1 month ago, and still nothing. yes I am going to have to write again, but would have thought that there was a reasonable time limit to supply the records, especially as we only wanted 1 weeks records. thank you for your help

ChrisNI

You could also contact the Information Commissioner's office and ask them for advice or to investigate the delay. Or even just threaten to involve them to see if it helps move things along.

They are a public body who oversee the legislation relating to accessing and storing of personal information

marcus_ohreallius

As above, involve someone higher up. The delay could be because they're very busy, or it could be for "other reasons". You have a right to know what happened. Sorry for your loss.