how do i obtain medical records?

[worriedaboutwill]

I've name changed.
Dad died earlier this year. Vascular dementia. For the last year of his life he could do literally nothing for himself - move, personal care, drink, feed, even lost speech.

His will was signed in 2019. He officially lost capacity about a year later, although that was late because of the pandemic and because Mum was in denial. When the doctor came round to make the judgement Dad didn't even know who he was.
I'm worried about this Will. Not because of the beneficiaries. My sister and I are clearly the main beneficiaries (Mum pre deceased Dad). But because there are some complicated arrangements in the Will which requirie the involvement of a professional Trustee - the solicitor who advised Mum and Dad for the final 20 years of their lives. My sister and i do not like or trust this man, and do not believe that when Dad signed he could possibly have understood what was being proposed, given a year later his poor brain was effectively an empty vessel.
So I want to find out exactly when dad was diagnosed with Dementia. And to do that need his medical records. Does anyone have any advice?
To be clear, this isn't about getting more money or robbing anyone else - it's about being clear about whether dad could have understood what he was signing in terms of the involvement of this one solicitor.

i should add there is no element here of questioning his medical care. Dad was well looked after by his GP surgery - even amidst the pandemic. It's purely to try to assess whether he could have had the capacity to understand something very complex that he signed

Hi OP, it might be worth posting in Legal too, or asking for your post to be moved over there. I'm sorry I can't help other than that 💐

Your first option should be to call the GP and make an appointment and just ask them what their rules are about releasing the information. Its usually possible if its an executor as the executor acts as if they "were" the deceased person.
Unfortunatly as dememtia can advance at different rates the GP may not be able to give a professional opinion one way or the other.
If the solicitor was careful at the time of writing the will, the GP may have issued letter giving a medical opinion on your Dads general health and capacity.

A praticle solution may be to get a second professional opinion on the benefits and costs involved in creating the Trust and/or to see if it is possible to achive the same outcome in a different way. If the will is not valid things may end up being more complex so lot of your decisions may depend on the value of estate.

🌻 Sorry for both your losses.

Not sure if it's too late but we downloaded the NHS app and spoke to GP Who who gave us access via the app to Mum's medical record. My understanding is if you're with the same GP then you can add the next of kin to your own app. Record must still exist so even though it's after the fact it could well be a method of obtaining the information. I would say that initially it is in a summary format once again have a word with the surgery who will change it so you can access it in a detailed format. It shows all of the consultations and all of the test results as well going back several years. We only needed gp consent as its not our surgery

In my surgery you have to fill out a subject access request form. But then this depends whether you had permission to discuss his medical needs. The NHS app wouldn't work now that the person has passed away. His record will be off the surgery although we can still access this we can't actually do anything to his record. Everything will be shut down basically. You need to speak to the practice manager first.

oh I am so sorry this must be horrible. yes first stop can be your father's GP although you might need the NHS medical record and not the GP record and they may still not be connected. Is the solicitor the executor?
The slight problem is this is not a dementia issue but a capacity issue which is similar but not the same....addtionally it would be a matter for the courts which is not cheap.