reading medical notes? anyone know about this?

[lilsmum]

i am wanting to read my dd's medical notes, i know you have to pay to get a copy, but can you go into hospital and read through them for free? or should i ask for a copy?

who is it i write to?

TIA xx

lilsmum - been away so just catching up here. Glad to read that you are making headway with lils foot but sorry that things still aren't clearcut

You can ask for copies of the notes from the medical records department at your hospital. They'll charge you anything up to £50 but it's usually only a few pounds for copying. At our hospital you can make an appointment to go along and read them (and also take copies of whatever you need). You are entitled to them under the Data Protection Act and are supposed to be allowed access within 40 days although dd's took a lot longer.

potty1, thanks for that

so it shouldnt cost that much? not that i am bothered about paying, just i think £50 is steep for some photo copies.

can they keep anything back? not let you read some of the notes? or do they by law allow you to read the lot?

TIA xx

I'm sure you won't have to pay more than a couple of pounds. The fee for dd's was waived as we had to wait so long but would only have been about £15 and there was quite a lot of it.

I have known them to be censored but I think that's more in cases where social services have been involved. We got ours in full with the 'cock-ups' in black and white .

we all ours back from the hosptal took a couple of weeks was told it was gonig to cost £45 but when we recieved them they said there was no charge.

thanks potty1, that really helps.

hope it in black and white for me, as much as it will make me

have you seen my thread with lillys results on? she does have a bone infection, taken them almost 4 mths to realise, and for her to have this in her bone with no treatment, and we have to wait till 23rd aug to see her consultant to get treatment.

had they messed up with your dd's treatment then?

oooh do you get them in the post? and do you pay before or after recieving them?

thanks guys, you a real help

not sure - i had to fill in a form giving the reason why i wanted to view them

They're not "censored" (or shouldn't be!). They will copy everything in the casenotes, apart from what's called "third party information", for example letters from social services or GPs. They don't copy that as it isn't their information to copy.

i emailed the records dep, and got a email back saying to re email if i wanted the copy of notes with dd's details, that was all i needed to do, the woman said. x

lilsmum - messed up big time! They spectacularly misdiagnosed dd as a baby with anaemia and a UTI ( and me as an over-anxious mother). This was a day before she had two heart attacks and went into multiple organ failure due to bronchiolitis on top of undiagnosed congenital heart disease.

BTW I collected her notes (didn't want to risk them with the postie lol)

for you that lil is still not getting her treatment.

OMG potty1!!! that is awful your poor dd, did you take matters further?

my dd's prob seem very small in comparison to your dd.is she ok now?

She's doing fine lilsmum. And lils problem is not minor and you have been just as badly treated.

Our GP went into a drying-out clinic (I kid you not) his wife and receptionist reported his alcohol addiction to the BMA - his treatment of dd was the last straw I think. The paed apologised for his and his team's mistakes but hid behind the fact that dd's condition is very rare. It still grates that she was in classic heart failure and they didn't notice. Needless to say we chose not to be treated by the paeds team there any longer although we are under the excellent ortho team.

potty1..i am glad your dd is ok now

at your GP!!! that is terrible.

did you officially complain then?

see the thing with my dd, is a need proof it was them that caused this bone infection, because i truly believe they did, i have searched over and over on google and the likes, and i cant really find anything concrete.

i spoke to my GP though last week (he is fab with advice and everything) and he said it was highly unlikely the gastroenteritis caused the bone infection and that the attempted canulation did cause it, but this was "off the record" and he isnt a specialist.

No I didn't complain officially - not that time, but we did about another later incident when dd recieved an overdose.....honestly...!?!.....like she'd not been through enough! It was very straightforward though in her case as it was myself and one of the nurses coming on shift who realised that there was a problem - and the ICU manager suggested we complain as it would mean that the protocols would change and prevent it happening to another child and that was really all I wanted.

The paed apologised at a meeting we had to discuss her care and ditto the GP several months later. They were pretty embarrassed about it all to put it mildly. Thankfully we didn't have to prove anything as such - she was sick and they underestimated just how bad it was. Even the cardio team were a bit gobsmacked as to how it went un-noticed despite being in and out of hospital for 3 weeks.

Have you had a response to your complaint?

OMG...jeez what has gone wrong with medical staff ?!?

yes i recieved a reply, mainly apologising(about our treatment on the ward), and also said if something showed with the MRI results they would investigate further, but i am not sure if i have to re - contact them now.i tried asking PALS they said they couldnt get involoved as i had complained!

I'd write again. I hope they admit that this has most likely been caused by them lilsmum - it's too much of a coincidence really isn't it? And that she soon gets her treatment and is walking properly again.