Hospital Records

Hi ,

Does anyone know how long hospitals keep a persons medical records and xrays etc, as i would like to obtain mine , i have GPs medical records but i want procedure xrays and the like, also i'm going back over 20 years and the hospital involved has been knocked down and re built. grateful for any advise as i have had a letter from tribunal today .


CV

chrissy v wrote: Hi ,

Does anyone know how long hospitals keep a persons medical records and xrays etc, as i would like to obtain mine , i have GPs medical records but i want procedure xrays and the like, also i'm going back over 20 years and the hospital involved has been knocked down and re built. grateful for any advise as i have had a letter from tribunal today .


CV

Hi CV,

I am afraid that I can only refer you to this :

Requesting your medical records

Have you contacted PALS at the Hospital in question ?

Or the local Health Authority ?

Is this old evidence relevant to your appeal, as the Tribunal will only look at how you were at the time of the adverse decision appealed ?

Aren't details of the spinal problems recorded in your G.P. records ?, if so you could reference them.

Sorry, but that's the best that I can offer.

bro58

Hi ,

Does anyone know how long hospitals keep a persons medical records and xrays etc, as i would like to obtain mine , i have GPs medical records but i want procedure xrays and the like, also i'm going back over 20 years and the hospital involved has been knocked down and re built. grateful for any advise as i have had a letter from tribunal today .


CV

Hi CV,

When I was seeking out key diagnostic records from various parts of the country I learned that the Department of Health has a guideline permitting the destruction of medical records twenty years from a patient’s discharge. But don’t loose heart. I’ve gathered in records from 1982-86 and 1991-92 without any problem. Don’t worry about the original hospital having been demolished. Contact the new hospital and/or the local NHS trust. Older records are sometimes archived centrally rather than the hospital itself. The decision to archive or destroy data appears to be the decision of individual Trusts.

Good luck!

Hi Chrissy

As Bro said the GP will have written records, I recently got mine and letters from consultants from my local practise and they will have X-rays on the system, although I suspect these will only date back to 2004 when it all went digital. A normal practise doesn't generally supply X-rays although you could request them and might be lucky.

I got X-rays from the hospital late last year so think the charges should be the same, although you will likely only be able to get X-rays from 2004 onwards as most hospitals have destroyed film now due to the amount of space they required which is a shame as I required one from 1995.

I went to the primary hospital where I am, went round to the X-ray (diagnostic imaging) department and asked for a copy of my X-rays. I filled in a form there and then and was told that it could only be from 2004 onwards when they went digital.

The X-rays are actually put on CD with a program for viewing them, much like in the hospital and it cost me £15 per CD.

I filled in the forms, was handed a ticket to take round to the payments office and paid for the X-rays then back round to the X-ray department showed that I had paid and they did the CD there and then took around 25 minutes in all. You will need your hospital number but can get that off any letter from them.

As for the written records from the hospital I wrote to the health records manager, if you look up your trusts details you can make a request by email.

Hiya

I looked into this b4 when trying to obtain records from various hospitals over many years.

It is dependent upon criteria of area, ie Herts hospitals keep records only 4 7yrs and if not asked for by then all are deleted.West Dorset only keep records if not asked for for 3 yrs, Dorset 5 yrs .Devon 7 yrs.

Some records are placed with your GP and those not, which have been left in hospitals or their storage facilities, will or have been deleted after the said yrs they comply with.

If you deal with the same area and continue to use the facility in that area they may well keep your records etc longer, but do not hold your breath.

Again they will be kept if your GP over the years has asked for them or refferd to them.

I took one or two different hospitals to task over this loss of data problem and refered it to the local PALS etc but all agreed it is dependent upon data, storage facilities and authority procedures.

Unfortunately in my case as my hospital records were first in Bedford until 1963, Cornwall until 1968,Devon until 1993, Herts until 2001, all have had a 7 yr destruction criteria, so hence no hospital/specialist etc records pre 2001 exist anywhere apart from any records I or my GP have.

Nowadays one can get scans/xrays etc from the hospital , placed on a CD at a cost of £15 and if you ask at every hospital apt/ specialist/consultant etc apt at a hospital reception and sign the correct paperwork they will supply you with copies of reports etc each time.

Then you will begin to have a paper trail to keep ESA/PIP happy !!!!!

Thank you to all for your advice,

I had 3 mylograms from 1983 through to 1989 and i really would like to have copies of them but knowing my luck it's been that long ago that they probably will have been destroyed, but i will act on the advise given in replies to my post, i have got my medical records from my GP but i have not got copies of xrays and the mylograms, even just to satisfy my own curiosity i would like copies.

Many thanks

Chrissy V