Family Historian User Group

Has anyone got any advice on how to request access to medical records of father, grandfather and gg grandfather (and mothers!)etc

ID:4646

As far as I know the records will not be in one place, they will be with the surgery/hospital who originated them. So far I have not had any luck accessing ones newer than 100 years and the older ones are often not retained.

See http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/MedicalRecords.html for some handy links one of which is a hospital database showing what records are where.

Thanks Jane

Googling access medical records quickly found several relevant sites including http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/media.aspx?id=1377 which will download a PDF document: 'NHS Direct: NP050 National Procedure for Access to Medical Records'.

However, another NHS site had the following:
 If you wish to see the health records of someone who has died, you will have to apply under the Access to Health Records Act 1990. Under this act you can only apply for the records of a deceased person if you:
 * are their personal representative,
 * are their executor (the person named in a will who is in charge of dealing with the property and finances of the deceased person),
 * are their personal administrator,
 * have a claim resulting from their death.
 To access the records of a deceased person, you must go through the same process as a living patient. This means either contacting the GP surgery, or the hospital where the records are stored.
 If you are unsure about whether you will be able to access the health records of someone who has died, contact your GP surgery for further advice.