Medical notes of deceased husband

The request was refused by Department of Health and Social Care.

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,
My husband died 27 months ago. I have tried to obtain his medical notes from 2014, even sending my £50 with all the forms. I was refused because I didn't have a letter of administration. When he passed away and I contacted the authorities to see what I did as he had no will they told me as his wife and next of kin and joint banks house etc I did not need any papers and to tell banks etc this, which I did and no obstacles were faced until I asked for my husbands notes, they want official papers so expect me to pay around £500 to get his notes. I want to look into his notes as I received a letter from his GP which should not have come to us with a diagnosis of TFLD, which of course I looked up and now want to find out more. My husband changed considerably but had an hereditary clotting problem, JAK2 mutation etc, we have 1 Son and I need to look into all of this to see how it may affect him, do I need him testing etc, this is very important. The powers that be will not tell me how without paying a huge sum I can obtain his notes to sort this all out. As I said no one caused any problems except these people and I understand data protection, GDPR etc, I just need to see these notes for my Sons health.

Yours faithfully,

Lorraine Arnold

Department of Health and Social Care

Our ref: DE-1184334 

   

Dear Ms Arnold,  
   
Thank you for your correspondence of 25 July about your husband’s medical
records.  I have been asked to reply. 

 

I was sorry to read of your husband’s death, and of the difficulties you
have been experiencing accessing his medical records. 

 

The Freedom of Information Act applies to recorded information such as
paper or electronic archive material held by a public sector
organisation.  As your correspondence asked for personal information, it
did not fall under the provisions of the Act. 

 

If someone wants to see the health records of someone who has died, they
can apply in writing to the record holder under the Access to Health
Records Act 1990.  Under the terms of the Act, they will only be able to
access the deceased’s health records if they are either: 

 

* a personal representative (the executor or administrator of the
deceased person’s estate); or 

* someone who has a claim resulting from the death (this could be a
relative or another person). 

 

Under the Act, the personal representative of the deceased and people who
may have a claim arising from the patient’s death are permitted access to
the records.  This applies to information provided after November 1991,
and disclosure should be limited to that relevant to the claim in
question. 

 

A duty of confidentiality remains after a patient has died.  The records
should not be disclosed if it is thought that they may cause mental or
physical harm to anyone, if they identify a third party, or if the
deceased gave the information on the understanding that it would remain
private. 

 

You can find more information at the following link: 

 

[1]http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/access-to-me...

 

Should you need more information, I suggest you contact NHS England.  The
contact details are: 

 

NHS England 

PO Box 16738 

Redditch B97 9PT 

 

Telephone: 0300 311 22 33 

Email: [2][email address

 

I hope this reply is helpful. 

 
Yours sincerely,  
   
Maxine Kocura  
Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries 
Department of Health and Social Care 

  

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