Your medical records?

[British Viking]

What happens to your medical records after you've popped off?

Are they stored somewhere or destroyed after a while?

Not wanting to soiund morbid in any way, but just thought it might be interesting and reveal some family traits if they were available to peruse?

[Sue Mackay]

Mine have been lost three times in my life time

[Nicolina]

and I ended up with my mother's. We were both E. W****** and the consultant never even bothered to check the christian name or even age, just insisted that I had never had certain illnesses, thereby calling me a liar. Boy did his ears ring.

[Sue Light]

They're destroyed. Different health authorities have different timescales, but most are binned five to eight years after death, except for children, whose are kept for a longer period - up to twenty-five years after death. Computerised records will have some effect on this - GP records, now held on computer, are not deleted from systems, so those might be subject to different rules in the future.

Sue

[Guest]

It doesn't matter whether the records are computerised or not. As they contain personal data (actually Sensitive Personal Data) they are subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and must not be kept for any longer than they are actually required.

The length of time might vary depending on the content - e.g. where information might help in prevention of disease in future (but it may may well be kept in a depersonalised form) and there might be specific times laid down by other legislation. Any difference in timescales between health authorities must be in compliance with the legislation.

Access to the records of deceased persons is also controlled by legislation - the Access to Health Records Act 1990. Under that act you can only apply for the records of a deceased person if you: are their personal representative, are their executor, are their personal administrator or have a claim resulting from their death.

Graham

[suemalings]

I have read through the info the forum gives about medical records, but there is no info. about where to apply. My father had one foot, there are various different stories about how he lost his other foot from something falling on him when he was at work to a road accident.

Unfortunately he died in 1974 and I know he had lost his foot before 1949 when he married mom (he did not take part in WW2) so I probably will never find out what happened as it is all so long ago.

Anyone any ideas about how I may find out?

[Lesley Robertson]

Watch out - the rest of the messages on this thread are 10 years old, and I have an idea that I’ve read about privacy changes in the law more recent than that. Depending on where he was living, it might be worth checking the modern registry sites.

Have you checked local newspapers of the time? My Grandfather lost an arm in an accident at work in the 1940s, and that led to a short report in the Local papers. Of course, the less common his name was, the easier that would be. What did he do for a living?

[Guy Etchells]

I have read through the info the forum gives about medical records, but there is no info. about where to apply. My father had one foot, there are various different stories about how he lost his other foot from something falling on him when he was at work to a road accident.

Unfortunately he died in 1974 and I know he had lost his foot before 1949 when he married mom (he did not take part in WW2) so I probably will never find out what happened as it is all so long ago.

Anyone any ideas about how I may find out?

First and foremost as your father is deceased he has no rights under the Data Protection Act 2018 or the General Data Protection Regulation

As a descendant of your father you have a right to access your father's medical records (if they still survive).
That access is regulated by the Access to Health Records Act 1990 (Section 3,1f) * and possibly more importantly in this case under the Human Rights Act (Schedule 1 The Articles Part I The Convention Rights and Freedoms Articles 8, 10 & Part II The First Protocol Article 1)

* “have a claim arising out of the patient’s death” You have a claim because you are a descendant of your father and as such are entitled to inherit from his estate (his medical records are part of his estate).
In the first instance you should contact his doctor and ask for a copy of his medical notes, those should show which hospitals he was treated in, you may then have to contact the relevant hospital and ask for his notes from them.
It may be that his notes have been destroyed as many hospitals and doctors destroy patients notes after only 15 years, but you may be lucky as some keep them forever.
Cheers
Guy

[suemalings]

First and foremost as your father is deceased he has no rights under the Data Protection Act 2018 or the General Data Protection Regulation

As a descendant of your father you have a right to access your father's medical records (if they still survive).
That access is regulated by the Access to Health Records Act 1990 (Section 3,1f) * and possibly more importantly in this case under the Human Rights Act (Schedule 1 The Articles Part I The Convention Rights and Freedoms Articles 8, 10 & Part II The First Protocol Article 1)

* “have a claim arising out of the patient’s death” You have a claim because you are a descendant of your father and as such are entitled to inherit from his estate (his medical records are part of his estate).
In the first instance you should contact his doctor and ask for a copy of his medical notes, those should show which hospitals he was treated in, you may then have to contact the relevant hospital and ask for his notes from them.
It may be that his notes have been destroyed as many hospitals and doctors destroy patients notes after only 15 years, but you may be lucky as some keep them forever.
Cheers
Guy

Thanks for the info. It is unfortunate that I know very little about my father. He was born in Rhyl, North Wales in 1912. Married mom and moved to Birmingham in 1949, died in Birmingham in 1974. So I have no idea which hospital he was admitted to in Rhyl (although I have an idea as there was really only one at the time)In fact I don't even know if he was living in Rhyl at the time of the accident, although I was told that he was only 14 or 15 working at the time. He never had a trade as such, he worked on the Marine Lake fairground in the summer months, then at the BSA in Birmingham from 1949 to his death. I don't even recall him ever going to a Doctor, although I understand that just after arriving in Birmingham he suffered with Pleurisy and was in hospital. Perhaps this is just one of those queries I will never find an answer too.

[grisel]

Thanks for the info. It is unfortunate that I know very little about my father. He was born in Rhyl, North Wales in 1912. Married mom and moved to Birmingham in 1949, died in Birmingham in 1974. So I have no idea which hospital he was admitted to in Rhyl (although I have an idea as there was really only one at the time)In fact I don't even know if he was living in Rhyl at the time of the accident, although I was told that he was only 14 or 15 working at the time. He never had a trade as such, he worked on the Marine Lake fairground in the summer months, then at the BSA in Birmingham from 1949 to his death. I don't even recall him ever going to a Doctor, although I understand that just after arriving in Birmingham he suffered with Pleurisy and was in hospital. Perhaps this is just one of those queries I will never find an answer too.

If you go to uchb.nhs.wales , go to 'about us' then click on ' requests for information', then ' access to patient records'then you will get advice about patient records in Rhyl.