NHS won't show me my notes

[SnowWhiteAndTheTwoKids]

I've had day surgery today, just a local anaesthetic, nothing major, it was done in 15 minutes. After the operation they said there were no doctors around to do my discharge paperwork so they would post it to me. They asked if I was okay with that or did I want to wait an unknown amount of hours for the paperwork. I said I was happy to get the paperwork in the post but please could I just have a quick look at my file? Nurse said "No, the notes are confidential." I said I just wanted to have a quick look at the info the consultant had added to my file and would give it right back to her. She went off and checked with a senior nurse then came back and said I would need to make a formal information request to see my file.
Why on earth would they be so cagey about this? When I gave birth I was given my notes to look through and it was all very transparent.
YABU - you should trust the NHS and not ask to see your notes.
YANBU - you should be able to read notes about yourself after an operation with wasting more NHS resources on a freedom of information request.

Your last sentence is key...there was NO ONE available so I would have had to wait hours for a junior doctor to be free to talk to me. All too busy...

You absolutely can see your notes, but you need to request to do so via the proper channels. I

Damn. I wanted to see how bad it was. I am getting another xray in 2 weeks so will ask to see that one as I've got screws etc in there now. Thanks for your reply.

Like the time the nurse wrote a whole load of vile discrimination in my notes which I saw first hand (as did several family members). Then when we applied for copies that had all been blacked out. The hospital deliberately covered the discrimination up and refused to let us have the unredacted version.

Strangers should not get to decide what we can read in our notes. They are about OUR bodies and OUR health and we have a right to that information. It control and abuse of people who are vulnerable. The only reason to 'blank things out' from a person with mental capacity is to hide mistakes or unprofessional behavior.

Yup...I'm getting the gist of this! 🤣 So I can see the paperwork when I sign it but as soon as I hand it over I can't see it again. Makes perfect sense!

One of the many reasons this is done is for both your protection and the hospital’s - if you were to suffer any long term effects from your procedure, for example, and want to bring a claim against the trust, there would be grounds to say you had tampered with the notes to make the hospital look bad. Or vice versa - if something key that might have helped you is missing from the notes, the hospital would be able to say “not our fault, the patient was messing around with them”

Yes shame. If you ask at the time, when it's on the screen or after when they bring it up on the screen they might let you screenshot it :)

This has been the procedure for years. When I was born 43 years ago, I had a big operation the day I was born, then followed months of operations and appointments. My Mum said she was in an appointment with a Dr and he left the room, she crept round the desk to read my notes. When he came back he got shirty with her. It’s known, you have to apply to see your notes.

Was that for me? I'm going to ask if I can get a pic of it.

Anyone can read their own notes but you do have to apply. It can take 28 days. They do have to be prepared. It's not just a case of handing them over. This is part of my job.

That was re X-ray btw

Grandtheft - yes I would think it should be fine !

Because it's policy, set by people way above my pay grade. It's confidential information. Patients might not understand what they read and misinterpret something which leads to unnecessary distress, e.g. "benign tumour" might cause some people to think that they have cancer. I would struggle to understand some terms and acronyms in specialities that I had no experience in. Also, doctors handwriting is awful. I suppose there is also the logistics of not leaving patients alone with their notes, in case they change or remove any of the originals.

Everyone can request a copy of their notes; just Google the hospital with "subject access request" and you can apply for a copy of whatever you want. It just takes a couple of weeks.

Whenever I've been in hospital (NHS in UK and abroad) before they have let me read my file with no problems. I didn't understand why it was different today.
Thanks for your replies everyone. I'll make a formal application.

You can see your notes as you know, on application.
I was just given the whole lot, no redactions, and a room to sit in and look at them, with others working there. No one spoke to me until I wanted to go.

There certainly was one comment, by quite a kind consultant, that I was quite indignant about, at the time. But it wasn't relevant to what I wanted to look at.

With all the tests it's not very helpful without explanation, but because there might have been a complaint, no one wanted to talk to me, and it was admin staff not medical who dealt with me that day.

What happened to you does make me wonder wat the consultant said- I hope if you find out it's nothing upsetting.

You can definitely request a copy of your x ray. Again, Google the hospital name and "subject access request", and fill out the form.

It's information governance and it's also absolutely ridiculous. We should all hold our own notes if paper and have access to online if electronic.

Would it be the original one that done the xrays as I had the surgery at a different one. Thanks.

I have literally just seen my xrays at my gp surgery.

Can OP sign up to the surgery she is at, online thingy (forget its name) and see most things there?

A while ago I was in hospital for a couple of months with my 2yo. One day when a dressing was removed I saw an unexpected area of stitching on her back. I knew shed had an operation on there but it had to be aborted.

I asked the nurses if they knew how far the surgeons had got with it, they didn't.

I asked if I could just check the notes from surgery and it was a clear 'no'. In the end, they looked up the page and read it out to me with the me standing there. Given the rules it was probably the best we could do (and a year on I'm still not sure what that 3-4 inch scar is about!)

I can understand why with kids/parents there may be some times when it's inappropriate, but it also made me feel like we weren't the team we'd been the previous month. They happily used our records on things like poo/wee/urine/food intake to make decisions, as we were there 24/7 and they weren't, but I couldn't even read what happened in my childs aborted surgery.

I get it (for kids) but I was totally shocked.

Apologies it may vary. Some GP surgeries only get the report.

I’m not in the uk, so perhaps that is why I find this policy so utterly bizarre and insulting. At this point, I automatically get a copy of my notes emailed to me minutes after they are made. Test results come that way too. Most of the time during an Appointment, the doctor or nurse sits with the computer screen and we look at it together as they type.

i can’t get my child’s full notes anymore now that she is 14, but that is ok. She can get her own notes. She did have to sign something allowing me to make her appointments and pay for her because she isn’t legally allowed to do either, but I wasn’t legally allowed into her account to do it without her permission.

Because some information can be redacted. I am a therapist. A client can request their file and I must respond. I do not hand over the whole file, particularly as I often work with couples.

If they request the notes as a couple, they will get the most complete version. A request as an individual will see the partner's input redacted. I might also redact my input, or even the words of the client, if I feel that there is a significant risk of the reading of the notes leading to trauma.

This can be challenged through my governing body, to whom I would have to hand all notes, totally unredacted. They would then decide whether it was in the best interests of the client to see the notes in full and I would respect that.

Part of our duty of care is to safeguard. Transparency is really important, along with the ability to hold professionals to account, but there is also evidence for note reading to retraumatise, or trigger a whole new trauma response, so there is a balance to be had. I do not believe in hiding info, but sometimes, the phrasing is terribly important and might not be as carefully considered as my transcript would be if I was jotting bits down.

Whaattt? You don't know the details of a 4 inch scar on your 2 year olds back? I would have gone apeshit.

It's the way the NHS operates. I was in hospital and one day was taken for a scan, and the porter gave me my file to hold. I started to flick through it, and he quickly snatched it away, saying I wasn't allowed to look at MY notes