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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Reading your own notes in Hospital

172 replies

QueenSconetta · 08/09/2012 11:04

I was in for a day op on Thursday, and a couple of the other patients were told off for reading their notes by the nurse. She said they could request a copy of them but they were not allowed to read the ones which were there.

AIBU to think this is a bit bizarre? It is more likely IABUninformed. Anyone know why your not allowed to read your own notes?

OP posts:
MrsMiniversCharlady · 08/09/2012 13:07

"fwiw should a doc think ive got anything like cancer/aids ect they should damn well be open about it. "

I agree that where it is a real concern then it should be discussed with the patient.

However, where this suspicion has not been shared with a patient, should I allow a patient to discover this news for themselves rather than allow their doctor to break the news. There may also be good reasons why a patient has not been given certain information which I am not privy to.

ITA that notes shouldn't be left around for people to read, but my original point still stands, that patients are not given free access to their notes for reasons other than laziness and ineptitude.

Longdistance · 08/09/2012 13:11

I read mine when I was pg with dd2. I wanted to read my birth notes as wanted to know how short dd1's umbilical cord was, as it was short. It turns out it was only 15cm long, so I then could decide on birth options for dd2 if any problems arose as they told me there was no way of knowing how long the umbilical cord was through scans etc.
I also perused my mother's notes when she was in hossy for ops relating to cancer. T'was very helpful indeed, as would know what was going on as my mum's English isn't the greatest.

sarahtigh · 08/09/2012 13:21

legally you are entitled to copies of all your notes not just the bits they want you to see, yes they can charge for photocopying but there is a max which I believe is £10 but it is only to cover costs so maybe less.

There are very limited reasons for withholding notes but that can be tested in court and would normally be in cases where serious mental health issues are around

I work in NHS and in many cases like in other fields people are told they can/ can not do certain things when there is no basis for it, and they work on principle that most people do not know the law and will accept the policy

any legal case where it is obvious that notes have been altered earsed or added to or indeed withheld without reason is viewed very dimly indeed

personally if you do not want me to read something about me without obtaining copies via admin department do not leave them around, I would never read someone elses notes but if someone left someone elses notes where I could read them I would tell staff

elizaregina · 08/09/2012 13:28

legally you are entitled to copies of all your notes not just the bits they want you to see, yes they can charge for photocopying but there is a max which I believe is £10 but it is only to cover costs so maybe less.

but people have been charged much more than that?

very interesting what you say .....

BartletForTeamGB · 08/09/2012 13:48

"Fees to get a copy of health records

If you want a copy of the health records, the fee will depend on how the records are stored:
on computer: maximum £10
partly on computer and partly in another form: maximum £50
entirely in another form: maximum £50
The maximum charges include postage and packaging."

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/fees-for-accessing-medical-or-health-records.aspx?CategoryID=68&SubCategoryID=160

careergirl · 08/09/2012 13:57

i don't want to read mine I am sure there is stuff in there I would rather not see in black and white. But, when I have had a query the GP or nurse has been happy to show me the computer screen with test results etc and explain things

amybelle1990 · 08/09/2012 14:00

As a nurse I don't mind people reading their own notes, but on occasion I have known- mainly pre-operative- patients get quite anxious and not really understand what they are reading. Like if someone has low blood pressure, on my old observation charts it would be highlighted in red and look like something was wrong, when really it could just mean that that particular person normally runs on a low blood pressure.

TBH- most of what you could read would be very boring!

jubilee10 · 08/09/2012 14:13

Should someone know if they were removed from their family by social services as a baby. Should they know that, when they were taken to a&e with an injury aged 3, it was suspected that it was non accidental. Should they know that their mother had 3 abortions before becoming pregnant with them and requested a 4th one but had left it too late. Should they know intimate details of their parents medical histories because these are all things I have seen in patients notes (and more)

Perhaps they have been aware. Perhaps they have the right to know but it could change family relationships for ever if they were to read these things in their notes. I personally think there is good reason to remove things before they are seen by patients.

Socknickingpixie · 08/09/2012 14:21

mrsmini if you are a actual qualifyed medical proffesional then yes, a simple explanation saying "test for cancer/aids ect happen all the time and often they come back clear,nobody has said you DO have it but often we like to rule it out"

HmmThinkingAboutIt · 08/09/2012 14:35

Bloody good job my BIL read his wife's notes.

She'd been given the wrong medication. He's a doctor. So is she.

If they'd had to go through the proper channels she'd be dead.

There was a thread not so long ago about how people who had requested their notes, found them to be complete works of fiction and bore no resemblance to what had actually happened (eg test results where no tests had ever been carried out).

If its on your notes you should know about it immediately - so that you can be involved in any decisions regarding your care. So therefore you should be able to access your records at any time you like. Otherwise the doctors are frankly being difficult and arsey.

JustForMe · 08/09/2012 14:47

The notes at the end of your bed wouldn't say whether social services were involved when you were a child that's silly.

I always read mine when I'm bored.

Goldenjubilee10 · 08/09/2012 14:58

JustForMe this is not about the notes at the end of your bed.

Socknickingpixie · 08/09/2012 15:13

jubilee

being taken away as a baby- yes without a doubt they should know,if they want to.

a&e vist- again yes it happened to them.

even ss let you see records and keep all cp records for something like 25/30 years.

mother having terminations/requesting another - absolutly not that is not medicly relivant to you at all tbh i would question why it would need to appear in the records as opposed to the mothers records.

are you seriously surgesting that if a child is taken into care but returned at a later date that a family should be able to cover it up?

zzzzz · 08/09/2012 15:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PropertyNightmare · 08/09/2012 15:31

I have photographed notes with my phone then later read them at my leisure. Plus you then have everything copied should anything later go conveniently 'missing'.

Goldenjubilee10 · 08/09/2012 15:32

Yes, one person, just added gold for cancer awareness month!

MrsTerrysChocolateOrange · 08/09/2012 15:37

When I was in Social Services I requested someone not be discharged to their DH's care, because of the situation. That needed to be in the notes so it was. My name would have been blocked out in a FOI request situation but it wouldn't have been in her notes because they needed to call me urgently if he tried to get her discharged.

Socknickingpixie · 08/09/2012 15:58

so do you think that person shouldnt have a right to know that she was concidered to be in danger or not?

Original poster
QueenSconetta · 08/09/2012 16:01

zzzz no, it wasn't about the notes at the end of your bed, it was the full notes pertaining to a certain discipline. In the case of the 2 patients mentioned, opthalmics. Inch thick files.

OP posts:
zzzzz · 08/09/2012 17:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TudorJess · 08/09/2012 17:11

YANBU. All of someone's own notes should be available to them at any time without question. We're adults, not children who should have to ask permission and have it denied in a patronising way.

TudorJess · 08/09/2012 17:12

(just to clarify I'm not saying that applies to children, just that it seems we are being infantilised by being denied no-question access to our own notes)

diddl · 08/09/2012 17:14

I agree with Jess.

Or, if they are requested, I don´t see why we shouldn´t be trusted to read them on hospital premises & return them.

I don´t see why they would need to be copied at anybodies cost.

LackingNameChangeInspiration · 08/09/2012 17:14

its true, the reason I've heard is that if you request them properly you have someone with you explaining things like for example that SOB does not mean that your nurse thinks you're a son of a bitch, it means you're short of breath etc