Does anyone know about this Subject Access Request form or SAR?
I have had some blood tests done, and the surgery now says I need to fill in the above form.
In the past, I have always gained access to my data when I call into the surgery and ask for a print-off.
Not sure why they're asking me to fill this in.
They say it's the new rules.
Subject Access Request are any method of request for information held about yourself. Asking for results is a verbal request.
Your can also put request in writing or the practice might have produced a form which they prefer you complete.
There no change in law, this is a practice policy. They may say identity confirmation is the reasoning behind it.
Are you signed up to any of the number health management apps that would hold all those details and more whenever you required?
It’s a bit much to be asked for a SAR over just blood test results. It would take far too long to process the SAR in some instances to even make timely informed decisions on your care. I would be inclined to discuss it with another member of staff in the first instance.
Thank you for your replies.
You are right it does seem extreme, just for blood results.
I eventually got the printout after a lot of commotion. And, it was a commotion!
The receptionist even lied and said the results weren't back yet.
I did say to this person that this wasn't the case at all, because another member of staff had told me over the phone that the results were back this afternoon.
It turns out that I can not have FULL patient access to my medical records, online.
Three receptionists have tried to set this up and each time it is blocked.
This explains why I've always gone to the surgery in the first place for this printout.
Except that simply saying to a receptionist: "Please print my latest results" is itself a SAR. Any request by a subject for their own data is a SAR.
Even if this surgery is demanding more than that.
Yes, same here. Always used to just ask at reception and they'd print it off. Last time I had to fill in the form and was told it could take 2 weeks to get print out 😂. Thankfully, it was done in a few days. What got me was the form said something about being 'non nhs', basically, it was extra work that wasn't in their nhs contract.
Please see Helvella’s post.
These lot are a law unto themselves!
If you want to get information from your medical records it is worth reading these pages from the Information Commissioner's Office :
ico.org.uk/for-the-public/y...
ico.org.uk/for-the-public/y...
ico.org.uk/for-the-public/y...
ico.org.uk/for-the-public/y...
The NHS and GP surgeries often make things harder than they legally ought to be. But, in my opinion, it's worth just gritting your teeth and doing whatever they ask you too, because if you make waves they might start saying that they don't have many records out of spite.
I sent a perfectly valid SAR (in letter form) to my GP surgery nearly ten years ago. I still had to fill in a form. One of the things I had to sign said that I understood and accepted that doctors could withhold anything they thought might harm my mental health, or that mentioned third parties. I thought at the time that this gave doctors complete freedom to withdraw anything and everything if they wanted to, and how many patients would have the proof that what was withdrawn was unreasonable?
Another issue is that some doctors have complained that since they wrote the records then the records belong to them, not the patient. In that case I wouldn't expect the doctor to be fair in their decisions about what to supply.
When I finally got my records they were all printed on paper, not on a CD or USB stick, which was very annoying. It might be worth specifying how you want your records to be supplied to you if you get the chance.
I have had a complicated medical history, and I don't believe that I have ever gone a whole year in my adult life (until the last few years anyway, when I gave up on them), without seeing a doctor - but apparently I didn't see a doctor in 2002 at all. Do I believe it? No. So I still wonder what was going to harm my mental health that happened in 2002.
New paper out in preprint form
Another ESA form - thrown off in September and anxiety rocketing
Keep away from surgery 
