Medical records

[EllenandBump]

How do i go about accessing my medical records and how much is it likely to cost me to do so? Anyone here ever had to do it. I have been told to write to my doctors, which i am doing BUT wanted to know procedure etc and how long it is likely to take as i want it to be able to support a housing application (homeless on grounds of domestic violence, unsafe to return) Thank you. x

phpne PALS and get a form t fil in. it will ask you what years you want, or particular episodes, x-ray and scan reports etc. costs between £20 and £50 ish. took about 3 weeks.

Thank you. Need it quite urgently. Any ideas if it still costs if a housing aid solicitor was to ask for it? x

no idea sorry. your best first place to ask would be PALS

Thank you anyway. x

Do you need your GP record, or hospital record(s) or both? I think you will have to request them separately so best to know for sure first, I think you would still be expected to pay if there is a charge (i.e. potentially more than once if you're requesting more than one record).

Best of luck.

Just a gp records. All hospital letters are sent to your gp anyway (or so i have been told) and are scanned onto computer at my old doctors. Just thought it could be helpful to really get the last three years with anything that indicates domestic violence, so that i can prove it did happen cos the council have basically come back and said no we wont house you cos we dont believe it happened or your at risk of violence.... FFS! They did try getting rid of me before as well. x

We just rang up our GP and they let us come in and read the file. They said we could take copies but they would charge a small/nominal sum for that.

solicitors can request copy medical records the usual fee is £50 sometimes a bit less. you will need to sign a mandate letting the solicitor request the records. Whoever asks for them you will incur a fee I'm afraid. And it can take a little time to request the records and get them sent out.
Can the GP write a letter confirming the evidence of domestic violence as noted in your records?

That might also be a very good idea. Thank you, just i have only just changed doctors and i never informed my old one, but you know in times of stress things go round i your head. I was asked if i had told anyone but i had been asked about it but told them it was only name calling, so was thinking maybe there would be suspicions on record, dated pre housing application, by at least 6 months cos the health visitor asked after i was diagnosed with PND. x

If you've literally just changed GPs, your paper records probably aren't there yet, although they may have transferred some of the previous content electronically.

If the HV only had suspicions of DV I think it's quite possible this never made it into your GP record - I would certainly ask them to look before you spend any money on copying the records. Alternatively you could check with your old HV unit to see what they have on file.

The health visitor was part of my old doctors. Changed beginning of november, which was after i seperated from my ex, so therefore, the gp wouldnt have had any suspicions. May well just do that. I will check what the hv has on file. Thank you. x

Okay. Technically the health visitors are a separate service and so may keep their records separate or in another location, worth checking first.

Best of luck.

Thank you. x