How do you access your own medical records?
By making a request to whoever holds them — and since data protection law changed, it is free and does not require a reason, which is a significant improvement on the previous position.
The right. Under UK GDPR, you have a right of access to personal data held about you, including health records. Health records held by GPs, hospitals, dentists, opticians and private providers are all covered.
How to request:
GP records — through the practice, and increasingly through the NHS App, which provides access to records including consultations, test results and documents. Access to prospective records has been rolled out for adult patients.
Hospital records — through the trust, normally via a medical records or information governance department.
No particular form is required, no fee is payable in ordinary circumstances, and you do not have to say why.
The timescale: one month, extendable by two further months for complex or numerous requests, with notification.
What you receive: the record itself, plus the supplementary information required for any subject access request — purposes, recipients, retention and your rights.
The limited grounds for withholding. Health records have a specific exemption: information may be withheld where disclosure would be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of the individual or another person. This is a genuine but narrow test, and it is not a general discretion.
Third party information — details about another identifiable person — may be redacted unless that person consents or it is reasonable to disclose without consent. Health professionals who compiled the record are generally not treated as third parties in this way.
What to know practically:
Records are frequently long and technical, and abbreviations are dense. Asking your GP to go through them is reasonable.
You can request correction of factual inaccuracies. You cannot require removal of a clinical opinion you disagree with, but you can have a statement of your disagreement added to the record.
Deceased patients' records are not covered by data protection law, which applies to living individuals; access is governed by the Access to Health Records Act, for personal representatives and those with a claim.
General information, not legal advice.