Quick help please - access to child's hospital notes

[tentative123]

We are currently in hospital with our week old who was severely dehydrated and losing substantial weight. She has been improving by tube feeding - mix formula and ebm, and Ive been working on my feeding technique. We agreed a plan with a bf coordinator and consultant to maintain the tube for 24h. The night shift told us we can't have it any more - (baby pulled it out annoyingly) and now she is stabilised she doesn't need it. We still need help and are incensed that this is happening tonight - been waiting to discuss it with the doc for 2 hours now (baby hungry). Furthermore - and the actual point to my post, we've been told that as we aren't the patient we cannot see the notes without consultant agreement, which won't be until the morning(when we were dilute to review the plan). Surely this is wrong - as her parents we should be able to see the records?

Please help!

Sorry you're having difficulty feeding your baby; if they won't tube feed her and you can't breast feed her, surely they'll let you give her a bottle of ebm or formula?

Re. the notes, you are entitled to them but I don't really understand why you can't wait a few hours till the consultant is on duty.

Hope you manage to feed her something soon, poor baby.

KK - are you sure OP is entitled to see medical records on the ward?

Normally you have to make an application to access to records dept and often pay a fee. If you want a copy too then you have to wait 40 days.

Even then information can be witheld for example if they have CP concerns you will not be allowed to see that information. Only option is then via ICO and a very lengthy process.

OP - I would certainly push to see the records ASAP if they are reluctant to let you see them. Good luck

The staff are right - the consultant has the right to review the records before you see it. If the baby has pulled out the tube but will feed from you then why not go with that and see how you get on? No need to subject everybody to the strain of putting a tube in again if she can feed well without it now. Concentrate on how you can help your baby, not on you right to see her notes this second. All you will do with that is put the staff's backs up and make the overall situation worse.

sorry to clarify what I said - I meant push the consultant to let you see the notes not push the staff as they are just following the procedure.

I'm afraid you don't have the right to see the notes on the ward, you normally have to apply in writing. This would apply even for your own notes, by the way.

Right now though seeing the notes isn't going to help anyway. At this stage you need to concentrate on getting your baby to feed and deal with the poor handling of the situation later on. Remember polite and firm tends to yield better results than getting angry

If the baby has pulled the tube out then the situation has changed so understandable that the plan has had to change with it.

The records will be released once the consultant has agreed, but they have to consider/review the contents of the notes first.

How will seeing the records tonight help? You have a hungry baby - if the baby does turn out to need a tube to be reinserted then given that they are having bm anyway, will they be harmed by the wait till the morning?

Do you have specific questions about the care plan? - that is the kind of thing that the care team may be able to answer, even though they cant show you the notes.

op - how is your baby? did you get your records?

Thanks for all the replies - I'm pretty astounded that I couldn't see them, having spent a week on the maternity ward with my notes at the end of my bed to look at as I please.

In the event they got a senior doctor to come and talk to us who explained what was going on, which noone else was doing. We didn't reinsert the tube and we were ok with that, the upshot is now a much harder job as she is on ebm bottles. But we will get there and there are promising signs.

I didn't get angry, they got the work version of me, who is very articulate and pursuasive . Nice doctor consulted our notes and told us what they said. From what we learnt the following morning that was only the tip of the iceberg of our experience there, could have been much worse!