How to Access Your Medical Records

 

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Under the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to request a copy of the information held about you by any organisation, including the practice. This is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR).

 

More information on making an SAR

In order to make an SAR, simply contact us and advise us that you would like a copy of your records. We prefer this to be done in writing as this helps with our record-keeping of your request, however you can make a verbal request if you prefer. You will be required to attend the practice in person and provide photo ID when collecting the records.

In some circumstances it may be necessary to withhold some of your records. This would only be done in situations where the following applied:

  • Your record contains details of a third party (other than a healthcare professional) – without the consent of the third party, it is not normally permitted to release this information.
  • Information contained in the record about your physical or mental health or condition would be likely to cause serious harm to you or to another person’s physical or mental health or condition.

In these circumstances, we would only redact the specific information that we could not reveal, and the remainder would be released to you.