Dear Lothian National Health Service Board,

We wish to know why we have been continuously denied access to the medical file of a man that died suddenly in 1945, when the grand daughter, Jill Goulding, has made multiple formal requests proving she is next of kin and should be permitted such information.

After two years of communications from both her and myself (researcher) to the Lothian Health Authority, in 2018 Jill was told she would need to receive a phone call from the 'Caldicott Guardian' who was Mr Fouyas at the time. The call never came. This obstruction to access the file has been ongoing since 2016.

The last request for access was sent in May 2020 and we have heard nothing since the below email 7 months ago.

''From: LOTHIAN HEALTH SERVICES Archive <[email address]>
Date: 22 May 2020 at 3:34:46 pm BST
Subject: RE: Application to view confidential records

Dear Jill

Thank you for your email, and I am very sorry that the proposed link between Mr Fouyas and yourself has not happened.

Because a condition on you having access to the records was to have an expert interpret them, I will need to check with our Caldicott Guardian to see if she will allow me to send the copies to you, or whether expert interpretation is still a condition of their release. Since the records are still confidential, I have no authority to authorise their release the way things work with third-party access to health records in Scotland, and if I do I’ll be in breach of our information regulations.
As you’ll have seen by our automatic reply email, our building is closed, and we are working at home at present. If I am allowed to send records to you, I am afraid that I will need to be in the office to be in a position to send these in the secure way that I need to.
I’ll contact our Caldicott Guardian with your proposal, and will let you know what she decides, and we can go from there.
With best wishes and apologies, and I hope that you are keeping as well as you can do at the moment,

XXXXX XXXXX

LHSA

The email above was from the Dott Archivist. We do not blame the archivist in any way whatsoever for the ridiculous delay, for she has tried to help us since 2016. The archivist is being obstructed from releasing the file to us by her bosses at LHS Authority.
It's time those above her to tell us who they are (names please as to who is obstructing) and for them to take responsibility for the 4 year obstruction and give a formal explanation for this unacceptable delay. This obstruction is to knowing the legitimate cause of her grandfather's sudden death and the procedures he was subjected to while in the care of Mr Norman Dott and Dr David Kennedy Henderson FRSE FRCPE.

Below is an early communication as evidence as to how long this has been going on.

LOTHIAN HEALTH SERVICES Archive
Thu, 7 Apr 2016, 09:01
Dear Laurence.
I was the person who originally started and worked on the Dott project, and now I deal with enquiries about confidential archive material such as you have requested .............................................."

laurence de mello <[email address]>
Thu, 7 Apr 2016, 09:10
to Jill, Jill, LOTHIAN

Dear xxxxxx

Thank you so much for your email and taking the time on my enquiries with regards to Cdr Goulding's health records while at Bangour and under the care of Mr Norman Dott.

I am copying in Commander Goulding's grand daughter Jill Goulding, who will be able to give the consent you have requested as a family member and sign any documents required to enable access.
I note that you do not permit scanning or photography of documents, is there a 'copyright' reason for this?

thank you again
Laurence de Mello

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I await your reply to this Freedom of Information Request without further delay please

regards

Laurence de Mello
Member of the British Association of Journalists