Missing medical records!

[BabCNesbitt]

I'm currently applying for a visa to go to the US with my (American) husband, and a medical exam is part of the process. They need to see my vaccination records for this to be sure I've had the necessary vaccinations (or do them all again, but as I'm pregnant at the moment I can't receive any). I contacted my GP for the records, and they told me that they've only got medical records for me going back as far as 1995 (when I registered with the local GP at uni) - nothing for anything prior to that. I contacted the surgery I was registered with throughout my childhood until that date (based in Scotland) and they tell me they don't have anything - that it would all have been sent to the new surgery in 1995 and they don't have any other information.

So it seems that all my medical history up to the age of 19 has bloody disappeared! Has anyone had any experience of this? Any idea who I should be contacting now? Is it even worth calling round all the GPs I've been registered with since then (if I can even remember!)? So frustrating...

There are a couple of possibilities but they may be long shots.

If you can, write or call all the practices. Speak to the Practice manager not a member of staff. Explain the situation and ask if they would be willing to actually look in their paper filing. It's no good them just looking on the computer and saying the notes were sent on, they need to go and look. Be clear that that's what your asking. I cannot stress enough that if you don't say that they will almost certainly only go by what the computer says.

Secondly, were you always in one area after uni? If so, speak to the PALs people at the PCT. They should be able to speak to the primary care support services and ask them to check in storage.

It does sound as though your notes from childhood GP never arrived at uni practice so that may be your best starting point,

HTH

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give my first GP another call this morning and ask about the paper records. (I've moved around a bit since uni, so I've been registered with at least 4 different surgeries in different parts of the country since then... )

You might not be able to have boosters in pregnancy but you could have titres taken (blood tests to check your immunity - they offer them for various things anyway in pregnancy) which would then be your proof of immunity.

Unlikely to be an NHS service, but your visa medical doc should be able to arrange.

...and might your mum and dad still have any of your stuff at home-home? Red books are often stuck in with "Baby's first year" books in a box somewhere, but would have all your imms documented.

My medical records prior to university are gone too but I've had my immunity for various things tested both whilst I was pregnant and now as I'm about to start some meds that dangerous with certain things so checked my immunity / exposure.

A lot of doctors practices went through a culling process and recorded only what they considered important. Sadly many practices did miss out essential data.

According to my medical records, I had five miscarriages in one month, and the true dates were never recorded.
They did record vaccination details. They didnt record any details about specific medical incidents throughout my life. A lot of really important data was recorded as happening on the actual day my records transferred to the new practice and not on the actual date.

I dont know how you get round this, however, the doctors/hospitals can do blood tests to check your immunity levels, which wont be harmful when pregnant.

A friend of mine pointed me in the directions of titre tests, actually - I've emailed the visa medical centre to see if they'd accept that as evidence instead of the vaccination records. Mum and Dad had a massive clear-out when they moved house ten years ago, and don't have anything like that, alas!

I know that mistakes can happen, but it's pretty disturbing to realise that all my medical history up to that age has just vanished!