Any tips??

[whiteyswifey]

Hi I am just about to request my hospital records. Any tips? I want all of it from the day I was born to my last appointment last week is this possible and do I need to specifically ask for EVERY note held from each time I ever attended the hospital for whatever reason??

Any help gratefully received xx

[Foggyme]

Hi whiteyswifey. I recently had to apply four sets of medical records and realised they don't make it easy. The forms asked me to identify every date, consultant and record I required...impossible as the records go back years with many different consultants involved.

I rang the access to records department and following advice, I did one blanket request for the entire records held at each hospital, one form per hospital.

On each form I asked for the following...

The full and entire contents of medical records (include records number and NHS number) to include copies of:

All clinical notes

All letters to other consultants, general practitioners and healthcare professionals

Blood test and investigation results (including X-rays, MRI scans and ultrasounds)

Any other information in the medical records that is not included in the list above.

I asked for everything in hardcopy with copies of X-rays, MRI's and scans included on discs (they sent these password protected and sent the password separately via email).

If you have notes at several hospitals, you will need to contact the access to medical records department (details usually on hospital website) to ask if records are held separately at each hospital or collectively in one central point. Records held central usually involve one form only but records held a different hospitals sometimes require applying to different departments (and filling out different application forms). Application forms can sometimes be downloaded from the hospital website - some post them out to you - some allow applications by email. Can be a bit tricky 'cause they all seem to do their own thing.

Seems to be working so far...and certainly worth doing since there is much in my records that I was not aware of (for instance, liver cysts dating back to 2015 that were never reported to me - no idea if the consultant even saw the results!).

Hope this help. Good luck 👍

[whiteyswifey in reply to Foggyme]

Very helpful thank you so much for taking time to reply x

[whisperit]

Hello whiteyswifey

I'm also halfway through this process. The request form they ask you to complete seems to differ from one Trust to another. I rang my Access Team to clarify some of the questions and they were quite helpful - but I haven't had anything back yet. So I guess that's as much as I can suggest - take a look at the form and clarify anything that's unclear with the team x

[whiteyswifey in reply to whisperit]

Thank you very much xx