The right of access, commonly referred to as Subject Access Request (SAR), gives individuals the right to obtain a copy of their personal data, as well as other supplementary information. All patients have a legal right to see their medical records and receive copies of information we hold about you. You do not have to explain why you want to see your medical records or access the information.
You can request a copy of your medical records in a number of ways:
- Online (see link below)
- Contact us by telephone on 01925 650226 (option 6)
- Face to face in the medical centre
- By a third party such as a friend, relative, solicitor, insurer, or other person acting on your behalf with your consent.
No. You do not have to pay for a copy of your medical records, this is free of charge.
However, GP practices can charge a ’reasonable fee’ for the administrative costs of complying with a request if it is the request is considered unfounded or excessive.
An unfounded or excessive request may be considered in the following cases:
- Patient has recently had a copy of their medical records
- Patient is making repeated requests for copies of medical record
- Medical records have recently been provided to a third party with patient consent
Under guidance from the Information Commissioners Office and the General Data Protection Regulation, organisations are required to respond to subject access requests within one month or 28 calendar days.
If you have made a number of requests or your request is complex, we may need extra time to consider your request and this can take up to an extra two months to respond. If we are required to extend the time period for you receiving your information, we will let you know within one month and provide you with a reason why.
- Electronically via secure SMS - providing the documents are not of a large quantity
- Collection in person
Individuals can apply on behalf of patients to request copies of medical records or data that Guardian Medical Centre holds about them. Due to confidentiality procedures, there are strict verification processes that must be completed prior to the release of any information to another individual.
To make a data subject access request on behalf of another individual, please contact our administration team using the contact details below.
Please contact our Administration Team:
- Online by completing an admin anima request - administration request
- Contact us by telephone on 01925 650226 (option 7)
If the team are not available to speak with, someone will call you back to discuss this as soon as possible.
The button below will link to SystmConnect our online service, please select 'other admin request'
Guidance for patients
Health and care organisations make every effort to keep your records accurate. However, occasionally information may need to be amended about you or your care.
If you think that the health or care information in your records is factually inaccurate, you have a legal right to ask for your records to be amended. For instance, you can ask for your home address to be changed because you moved house. You may also ask for something you feel has been inaccurately recorded, such as a diagnosis, to be corrected. However, it may not be possible to agree to your request.
A request can be made either by speaking to staff or in writing. You may need to provide evidence of the correct details, for example proof of address or change of surname after marriage. The organisation will then consider the request. Where organisations agree to make a change, they should make it as soon as practically possible, but in any event within one month.
Sometimes, you may disagree with information written in your record, but the information could still be factually correct. For example, you may disagree with a diagnosis you were given in the past. Whilst you can still ask the organisation to amend the entry that you feel is inaccurate, an organisation should not change it if the health and care professional believes it is factually correct. There are exceptions to this, for example, where there is a court order.
In cases where all parties agree that the information is inaccurate, it may still be necessary to retain the information. For example, health and care professionals may have taken the information into consideration when making decisions about treatment or care. This information would therefore be needed to justify and explain health and treatment decisions or to audit the quality of care received. You can, however, request for a comment or entry to be made in the record to show that you disagree with the content and what you think it should say.
If you are unhappy with the decision of a health or care organisation to retain information you wish to have deleted there are some steps you can take. In the first instance, you can make a formal complaint through that organisation’s complaints process. If you are unhappy with the outcome of that process then you might consider making a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or consider legal action.