Accessing your Record

A note about Medical Records

All our records are kept on computer. Patients can be assured of complete confidentiality. Your rights are also protected under the Data Protection Act 2018. Patients may request access to their medical records under this act.
Sometimes when people view their medical records they see things recorded in ways that they do not understand or in which do not fully record the medical problems that they have or have had.

There are a number of reasons that may account for this:

  1. It may have been incorrectly recorded or dated. If you are viewing your medical records and something is clearly wrong, please let us know so we can investigate and correct it. If possible, let us know of problems in writing rather than by telephone. Please do not book an appointment just to raise concerns about details in your medical record.
  2. It may not be able to be exactly recorded due to the limitations of the system used to “code” medical information. Much of the information in medical records is recorded using medical terms that the computer system recognises. Unfortunately the number of computer recognised terms is not as extensive as enormous variety of medical conditions that people have. Rare, very detailed and newly described conditions or procedures are often not available on the coding system so we have to use approximations. We have to accept and work with this.
  3. Remember that medical terminology does not always have exactly the same meaning as when the words are used in day to day conversation.

If you require further advice or information about accessing your record or someone else’s record then please contact us.