Went to GPs this afternoon to ask for blood test results and ask for them to be printed off ( for some reason even though i'm signed up on line for prescriptions and appointment i can't access anything else ). Oh she said "everything is normal" and data protection changed last month so i can't print anything off without asking a doctor first. Could you just please tell me CRP and ESR levels and perhaps my level of Vit D. Oh no she said i can just say it's all normal. I left before i lost the plot.
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Jud666
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If I’m correct it’s NHS policy that this information should be readily available.
I did have problems with getting some results online, and when I queried it was told the GP needs to give permission, because not all patients would understand what they read!
My surgery has just changed it’s online provider so I’m not sure what available as yet, but if you’re having regular tests you should (once GP has seen and commented on them) get them freely.
Might be worth a phone call or email to practice manager, if they have one.
The data protection changes are to give the individual more say/info - not less!
I had that problem here in the US I know things are quite different here, but the company told me that my labs results would be delivered to me once the doctor released them. I told them they aren't the doctor's lab results. The fluids are mine and the bill is mine, and if they expected to be paid those results had better be available to me by the end of the business day or they would be hearing from my lawyer, and his bill would be deducted from their fee.
Definitely time to speak to the Practice Manager - shall I come with you?
I started by being able to order medication and book appointments, but then was 'authorised' to another level of access where I can now see my blood results as soon as my doctor has seen them and added them to my record. Do ask if this facility is available at your surgery - when your BP has come down - if that's possible with all this palaver!
The saving grace is the word 'NORMAL'. I wonder what she would have been allowed to say to you if anything was abnormal.....
Don't they want a patient who is interested in their condition and keen to do what she can to monitor progress and aid her recovery? Answers on a postcard!
When I was struggling to get a diagnosis my then doctor cheerfully told me all my bloodwork was normal. A couple of months later a new GP looked at the same report and suggested that she'd like to run some of the tests again, as she noted my iron was very low and my inflammation markers were raised, although she did add they weren't out of range "for my age". So normal can mean different things to different people, apparently.
When I got the phone call from surgery last week receptionist said I was borderline....to what though??...answer come and pick them up!!.....no consistency with the rules then obviously!!
I almost had to go through a freedom of information channel to get my complete DXA scan. Finally a signed letter from my GP did the trick. Before that I'd had an amusing yet frustrating time just to get my t-score. the person I talked to had to get someone else's permission to release the information because of privacy concerns. We were both laughing when I protested that I was the patient!
And the funniest thing is they still use fax as the default method of transferring medical information here (Nova Scotia) and really anyone might see that information.
I noticed the last time I was in my doctor's surgery there's a sign saying they can't discuss blood test results at reception for privacy reasons. I suppose if there's a queue of people, they'll all get to hear your results, too!
It is the arrogance and stubbornness that gets me upset. If someone really wants to help me and empathises, it's different to someone who is just being a git. I hate that. I am the patient, it is my body and I am not a child so they shouldn't treat me with such little respect.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Bureaucracy at it's finest!!!!
Oh dear, that’s really not helpful. I always get a printed copy of any results from GP reception no questions asked. Not that I understand them all but I’ve created a nice fat file!
My on-line access gives me test results and medication requests OK, but when I try to make an appointment there are never any left! We can only make an appointment up to a week in advance as many people were making appointments for every month, just in case they needed it, and forgetting to cancel them. I have to phone at 8am if it's urgent and wait in a queue of up to 15, or drive to the surgery and wait in a queue there.
We can't make GP appointments in advance, at all. No way of escaping the 7.30am queue. Guess it puts off those who aren't desperate, but seems slightly inhumane to me. When same day appointments run out, you have to go away and come back next day. That can happen more than once. By phone, you'll be given a telephone appointment, and these are often some days away, and not always very reassuring, I find. Shortage of doctors, apparently.
I’ve always been able to make future appointments and order prescribed meds online but I did have to apply formally for access to my test results and medical records online.
Before that though I’ve always been given my test results when I asked at reception - and printed out too if I wanted.
I thought this was standard practice these days. It certainly should be!
We are told to pick up our results if we want as well as them being sent to the doctor - and have a data protection form handed to us once to sign. When the EU changed the regs last year we had to do a new one.
I can sympathise because I was called in as blood tests had shown that I was anaemic. I asked what the actual reading was and the answer I got was "Oh, we don't want to get too technical, do we". I thought how patronising! I explained that years ago I had severe anaemia and I wanted to have some idea what the reading was this time. I have blood tests once a year for all the usual things and I would so like to have a printout of them but it seems as though this is definitely not allowed. I too have been told on other occasions that everything is normal but am not allowed to know the actual readings. I just don't understand.
This is what the NHS website says. I think the words “legal requirement” says it all.
There are a number of different types of health record, accessing them is free, and healthcare professionals have a legal requirement to allow you to see them.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Update 2 : Getting the right treatment 
Update on progress
PMR - update on doctor call
Scared of test results 
