NHS subject access request confusion!

[Itsaweebitcold]

Hi!

I just wondered- has anyone does a subject access request to get their NHS hospital notes? Was it easy to do and did you manage to get all your information or was it difficult? It’s NHS Scotland if that makes a difference and I’m looking to get a copy of all my paper notes, nursing notes, doctors notes, lab results, scans etc and basically every single thing on my file at a particular hospital from the last 7 months.

im just slightly anxious in case it will be logged on my record that I requested it and then will it be like a black mark next to my name and I’ll look like a difficult patient?😅 or am I overthinking it?! Also, does anyone know will they contact the consultants/doctors/nurses who I’m under or who wrote the notes, or is it a different team who sort it and it doesn’t get passed on to the medical staff?

im requesting it for a few reasons- I’ve had some bad experiences and I want to know exactly what’s on my notes from it, and also I’m looking at moving abroad soon and I’m thinking it would be handy to have my completed record about my medical condition (also handy if I decided to go private too)

thanks in advance for any advice!

I've had to ask at two how surgeries and they've never treated me any differently xx

Ah thank you! That’s good to know xx

None of the clinical staff will even know

Several times. Very straightforward. Even though dh’s took 3 expanded A4 envelopes! You can also request images. Records are entirely separate to clinicians.

The request does get passed on to the staff, as they need to identify any relevant records and redact them if necessary
But don't worry about how it looks or about any marks next to your name, nobody will bat an eyelid at this!

Agree that clinicians may be notified if they need to check through anything - or if the request includes emails. The NHS can only share its own info -e.g. if the notes are for a child with SEND, then the NHS cannot share things like an Educational Psychologist’s report as it is not theirs to share. All clinical notes and reports will be shared though. NHS organisations usually have a team to deal with SARs so they are used to getting it all sorted.

I requested to get evidence to use for my PIP claim and I've never been treated differently because of it.

I couldn't just ask for letters as I'd been treated in several cities over a period of 25 years and had just recently moved again somewhere new so it was easier to just get everything and pull out relevant info vs trying to track down so many people to request a letter from.

This! I actually run department in my org who do SARs and I don't even know who requests them (unless it's a contentious or difficult request that I need to give some management advice on).

In a busy Trust it will be a totally different team who do these

Educational Psychologist reports are disclosable in SAR as are teacher reports used in neurodiversity assessments. Education professionals are treated the same as HCP and their notes considered part of the record. What wouldn’t be disclosed without per mission is information that refers to other family members. For example if a Dad of an estranged couple asks for his child’s records, any information about the mum would be redacted unless she agreed to it being provided.

If you have been told you can’t have EP information, you might want to go back to the service or the ICO as they are wrong to withold it.