Medicines for good health

Find out how you can access your medical records, how much it will cost you and how to access someone else's medical records if you need to.
How to access your records

Your doctor's surgery holds your medical records while a hospital holds records of any treatment you have had there. You have the right to view these under the Data Protection Act 1998. You can simply ask your GP, surgery staff or health authority, if you can inspect your medical records. Check with them, but there is usually a charge (see 'How much it will cost' below) and you may be asked for proof of identity.

However, it is recommended that you apply for access in writing by sending a letter by recorded delivery, including any payment and the required proof of identity. You should receive a response no later than 21 days after your application was received, although by law (according to the Data Protection Act) the hospital or surgery has 40 days to respond to a request in writing.

If the records are held at a hospital, you should address the letter to your hospital Patients Services Manager or Medical Records Officer.

Your records, when presented to you, should be in a format that you understand.

* More about accessing your medical records;

If access to records is denied

You will not be allowed access to your records:

* if healthcare professionals believe that information in the records is likely to cause serious harm to the patient or another person
* details about third parties are included in the records - these may be removed

However, if you are denied access you can approach the Information Commissioner's Office if you think the organisation has breached the Data Protection Act.

* Visit the Information Commissioner's Office website;

How much will it cost?

It will cost you:

* £10 for information held in a computerised format
* up to £50 for manual records

Accessing someone else's records

If you are applying for medical records on behalf of someone else, you will need their consent or a power of attorney.

* Managing your affairs and enduring power of attorney (over 50s section)

Getting more information

The Patients Association has produced a booklet called 'How to obtain access to your medical records' which you may find helpful. It takes you through the necessary steps and includes examples of the kind of letter you will need to send to gain formal access.

Before the discovery of antibiotics, sulphur was the leading anti-bacterial drug. Every Queensland household in the 19th century would have a kilo or two of sulphur flowers for burning, and a few bottles of sulphurous acid for gargling.

Diphtheria was one of the greatest killers of the 19th century and the one and only line of defence against Diphtheria was sulphur. First the patient’s room was sealed tightly, and while the patient was still in it, ½ kilo of sulphur was burnt in the room. Next, the tonsils were brushed with sulphurous acid. Great care had to be taken to make certain that sulphurous acid and not sulphuric acid was used. There were many cases of patients’ throats being burnt out, because of this mix up. The patient then gargled a mixture of sulphur and water before going to bed with a few teaspoons of sulphur folded in their pyjamas. This cure was hard on the patients but spare a thought for the rest of the household and the neighbourhood for that matter. During diphtheria outbreaks the suburbs reeked of sulphur.

The great child killer of the 19th century was croup. The most dreaded sound a mother could hear was the sharp cough of the croup. Mothers were desperate for cures. One mother wrote to the newspapers with her cure. Her pen name was ‘Experienced” and with good reason. She had beaten off over twenty attacks of the croup with her cure. First the patient was given an enema made of mustard, salt and water. Next a mustard plaster was applied to the throat and chest and the patient was placed in a hot bath and covered to the neck with a blanket. After the bath the patient was wrapped in blankets, kept in bed, and after a few days, the patient would be right as rain.

Skin cancer ravaged our forebears just as much as it does today. One cure shows what a different world it was then. Spirit of salt applied once a day for a week would turn the cancer black and it would drop off within a few days. Ah, if it only could be so simple.