Medical Records

Think maybe need to define 'medical records'. These as in the medical records library of every hospital are a folder which until recently when at least some data came onto the hospital's computer network contained

• the handwritten notes made by the doctor at each consultation at that hospital
• paper copies of the results of every investigation you have had at that hospital
• a copy of every letter written about you by anyone at that hospital
• every letter or result received by the hospital about you
• a copy of every prescription issued to you by that hospital

Whatever you are looking at saying 'letter received' is what? Your GP's summary? Your GP will have an actual file on you which contains those letters and that is your actual medical record.

Seeing your medical records | The Patients Association (patients-association.org.uk) Anyone can request their medical records. Just ask. They possibly won't like it, not for any sinister reason but because they're short-staffed and it may mean someone has to spend a long time at the photocopier or the printer, but you have a legal right and they have to do it.

Getting copies of medical records

A request for information from medical records has to be made with the organisation that holds your records – the data controller. For example, your GP practice, optician or dentist.

For hospital records, contact the records manager or patient services manager at the relevant hospital trust. You can find a list of hospital trusts and their contact details here.

NHS England » Getting copies of medical records

What should happen is your GP records move with you: whenever someone changes GP, everything is automatically sent to the new practice. A record of the accident should therefore be with both whomever is your current GP, and with whichever hospital treated you then.

The GP should have received everything necessary for your continuing care, but that is not necessarily everything. For instance the hospital might have written something like "Patient X attended A+E on…A CT scan was performed which showed….[whatever it showed about the part of you affected by the accident and which needed treating]" but the GP wouldn't necessarily have got a copy of the full CT report.

The following are factors re hospital records:

There's been a lot of amalgamation and indeed closing down of hospitals and with that things get lost.

Hospitals archive the records of those who are no longer current patients - and things get lost.

If I were you, first thing to do is check the hospital you were treated in 34 years ago still exists exactly as it was then. When you're sure where your records should be, contact medical records there and say exactly what you're looking for because different things are filed in different sections of the folder, e.g. you want the report of a scan, the report of surgery, the report of the doctor who saw you first, your blood results on admission, whatever.

Any admission is followed by a discharge summary narrating what happened - contact the hospital.

I'd also suggest dig. The GP practice didn't learn that by thought transference and it's extremely unlikely they learned it by phone. They should have received a copy of above-mentioned discharge summary and/or other paperwork. Ask where they file old correspondence and so on. I know staff turnover is an acute problem and anyone currently at your practice might only have been there 6 months, so it might turn into an exercise in archaeology, but they should know what has happened to all medical information that has passed through their hands. Perhaps in the basement are rather tatty cardboard boxes….

Excellent outcome, great! touch wood everything you could possibly want is there.