Health records

If you change your name, address or telephone number, your health records will need to be updated. Phone or write to your GP surgery or hospital to notify them of any changes. Reception staff can update your records. Some hospitals and GP surgeries have online forms for updating your details.

If you want to view your health records, you may not need to make a formal application. Nothing in the law prevents healthcare professionals from informally showing you your own records. You can make an informal request during a consultation, or by phoning the surgery or hospital to arrange a time to see your records.

If you want to make a formal request to see your health records under the Data Protection Act (1998), apply in writing to the holder(s) of the records. If you want to see your GP records, write to your GP or the surgery manager. If you want to see your hospital records, write to the hospital’s patients services manager or medical records officer.

You may be charged a fee to view your health records.

The fee to obtain a copy of your health records will vary depending on how the information is stored. The maximum charges are:

• £10 for records that are only held on computer,
• £50 for records that are only held manually, and 
• £50 for records that are held partly on computer and partly manually.

If you want to see your health records but don't want a copy, the maximum fee that can be charged is £10. This is the same for records held on computer, manually, or partly on computer and partly manually (unless the records have been added to in the last 40 days, in which case there is no charge). 

By law, you're entitled to receive a response no later than 40 days after your application is received and any relevant fee has been paid. You will then receive an appointment to see your records.

If you have asked to see a copy of your records, they should be written out in a form that you can understand. This means that abbreviations and complicated medical terms should be explained. If you still do not understand any part of the record, the health professional who is holding the record should explain it to you.

If you have permanently left the UK, your GP health records will be sent to your local primary care trust (PCT) and your hospital records will either be stored at the hospital that you attended or sent to a local archive. Following treatment, hospital records are kept for a minimum of eight years and GP records for a minimum of 10 years.

Under the Data Protection Act (1998), you have the right to apply for access to or copies of your UK health records, even if you have moved abroad. Apply in writing to the record holder(s).

If you want to view the health records of a deceased person, under the Access to Health Records Act (1990) you can apply in writing to the record holder.

Under the terms of the Access to Health Records Act (1990), you will only be able to access the deceased’s health records if you are either:

• a personal representative,
• executor,
• administrator,
• or someone who has a claim resulting from the death (this could be a relative or another person).

After a person has died, their GP health records will be passed to their local primary care trust (PCT) so that they can be stored. To access their GP records, apply to the records manager at the relevant PCT. The deceased person’s GP can tell you which PCT to contact.

GP records are generally retained for 10 years after the patient death before destruction.

For hospital records, the record holder is the records manager at the hospital the person attended.

You may be charged £10 for access to the health records, if the records have not been added to within the last 40 days. An additional fee may be charged for copying and posting the records to you. There is no limit to this charge, but it should not result in a profit for the record holder. Some types of records, such as X-rays, may be expensive to copy.

If you think that information in your health records is incorrect, approach the relevant health professional informally and ask to have the record amended. If this doesn't work, you can formally request that the information be amended under the NHS complaints procedure. All NHS trusts, primary care trusts, GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists have a complaints procedure. If you want to make a complaint, go to the practice, hospital or trust concerned and ask for a copy of their complaints procedure.

Alternatively, you can complain to the Information Commissioner (the person responsible for regulating and enforcing the Data Protection Act), at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545745

If your request to have your records amended is refused, the record holder must attach a statement of your views to the record.