Medical records

[PerkyOchrePeer]

I had a hospital appointment a few days ago and the doctor pulled up my medical records and showed me. One of the entries said anxiety depression. I have never been treated for depression or seen any doctor vexause I do not have clinical depression. The doctor then said speak to your surgery. I rang the surgery and the receptionist saw it and I asked who put it on. She went to query and then said it was put on in 1975 she said she would remove it.

In 1975 I was 13 and did not have depression. I rang my surgery back today to query further and the receptionist said they cannot remove a record and I have to put it in writing for the admi. Staff to do. Im conffused because the previous receptionist said she had removed it.

Can something from the 1970s show up today and I do recall I was having counselling as a teenager as I didn't get o. With my mum but that's no reason to list depression on my medical records and is not relevant today. How far back do medical records go

Medical records go back to when you were born

I’d urge you to not waste one second’s more thought on this

So the counsellor you saw as a teenager thought you had anxiety and/or depression. They might have been right about that, or they might have been wrong. But the diagnosis wasn't communicated to you at the time. Maybe they told your mum?

Either way it doesn't matter. How could a diagnosis of depression dating back 50 years affect you now? You're right it's not relevant today. But it is a part of your medical record because a health care professional made a diagnosis and put it there. Even if they weren't correct. Have you never been to see the doctor for another problem and been told "it's x, have some cream". But the cream doesn't work so you go back and the doctor says "ooh it's y, have a tablet." The diagnosis for x will also still be on your medical record. Would you care about that too?

I would definitely be getting that corrected on my medical records. I had to have surgery a few years ago and they were reluctant to give me some drugs that the doctor requested, it came out that my medical records said I had suffered.from depression. I have never had depression and at the time of the records I was not in the UK but living abroad so hadn't been to a doctor.
Clearly a mistake but hassle at the time. Additionally your medical records could be consulted at some stage if something happened (e.g. police - unlikely but possible) so I would get them corrected.

Are you able to accedd them that far back

@PerkyOchrePeer I don’t know about being able to view instantly online but you can request them

I’d definitely want it removed. A mental health diagnosis on your records changes how you’re viewed. I was once losing weight at an alarming rate, BMI under 16. But because it said I had anxiety, the doctors just instantly went to “well this is anorexia, there’s no point investigating a physical cause”. Obviously mental health should have been considered, but not to that extent and at the exclusion of anything else for so long.

They might still be paper records, although it sounds as if perhaps they were digitised if hospital can see them. It may be a coding or transcription error and odd for them to raise something from 50 years ago in isolation. Make a subject access request (dsar) or check your nhs account online. You can request a corrective note be put on file.

It’s been digitalised by the sounds of it and coded. It could have been coded by mistake.

there should be a paper trail of this where it can be identified. You could also request full records from that year which they should be able to arrange quickly for you as it’s only one year of records.

they can remove a coding quite easily but have to have good reason eg: mistake or no evidence of it being documented adequately,

Hi OP, NHS director here.

You can access all your records for free be it GP, hospital etc. If there are inaccuracies I've found a few in mine, they can't be removed. But you can put in writing what you believe is the case and they can add it alongside the orginal entry to counter it.

No one reads records that far back very often and when they do, it doesn't always make a difference to the situation today. Reading clinical notes can be difficult when they are about yourself as they are quite "cold". Notes from the 70s were never intended to be read by patients so it can be easy to take offence at them. Plus they are often thoughts and opinions at the time not facts e.g. "appears to me....."

I really wouldn't lose any sleep over it unless it impacts on your treatment/care today or is totally unacceptable to you.

What im saying is clinical records need to be factual but you can't rewrite history. And dont burden yourself with what people have historically written when standards were a lot lower.

Ask for your medical records and ask for any that havent been digitised. If they have been digitised, ask for everything from birth. Put it in as a Subject Access Request.

If there is a letter from a specialist from that point, if they have said you have depression, that'll be where it came from.

Part of me agrees.

I have 'eating disorder' on my bloody files. When aged 21 I took laxatives for about 5 weeks to lose weight.

I have half my intestines missing now and multiple autoimmune diseases. Some doctor asked me if I still had an eating disorder. I was confused and felt that familiar sense I was dealing with a misogynistic medical fuck face.

You can't win a fight against men and their misogyny in the medical profession without it taking it's toll ime.

I'd guess most people who see doctors, women especially, have had some dick write anxiety on their notes. This is a system based problem that's hard to overcome.

If you can try let it go then I think it will be better. Come laugh with the rest of us who have to try laugh about the state of affairs that enables this.

James, you absolute terror 😆.

OP, not laughing at you. It's a miracle we aren't all clinically depressed these days 🤷😃.

I can access my medical records on my NHS app all the way back to birth.

You’ve just admitted yourself that you were infact seen by a therapist during your teen years and this was obviously the conclusion they came to.

it was an extremely long time ago, why are you so worried about it being on there?

I can answer this - when women seek medical support, investigation or next level referral, there is a huge tendency to defer to this being a mental health issue. This is most commonly applied by male doctor to women.

This approach answers many problems. It saves time, money, it provides an answer to those difficult situations where a blood test won't give you the answer. I appreciate it's in common usage now. But the word gaslighting is a fantastic description of behaviour that people have employed for years. It is sadly employed by way of medical gaslighting against women too often

So that's why it's bothersome if it's there gleaming on a record. If there's no truth in it, this is really confusing and upsetting based on what we know can happen ( outlined above).

If OP is not being asked about this by doctors or if it's not seeming to be any barrier to accessing help, I say forget it.