Access to health records

Is a formal application necessary?

If you are a patient and would like to access your medical records you will usually need to make a formal application.

There is a form available to help you do this but you do not have to use this so long as your request is in writing (letter or email).  

To help us find the information that you are looking for, we will need your full name, date of birth, address and your address at the time of your treatment if this was different to your address now.

These requests are usually called Subject Access Requests or ‘SARS’ for short.  To make sure that we only send this very personal information to the right person we will ask you to provide us with some identification as proof of identity and address.

 If you are the patient’s representative and need to access their medical records we will need to see proof that the patient has agreed to this.  There is a form available to help you do this but you do not have to use this so long as your request is in writing (letter or email).  

To make sure that we only send this very personal information to the right person we will ask you to provide us with some identification documents for both the person applying and the person whose medical records they are asking for.

Deceased patients records (Access to Health Records Act 1990)

The NHS applies the same level of privacy to deceased patients’ medical records as it would if the patient was still living.  There are only very limited situations where access will be allowed, where the applicant is the personal representative of the deceased (for example the Executor or Administrator of the deceased’s Estate) or if there is a claim arising from the patient’s death. 

There may be other limited access given, but this will be at the discretion of the Trust.  There is a form available to help you do this but you do not have to use this so long as your request is in writing (letter or email).

To make sure that we only send this very personal information to the right person we will ask you to provide us with some identification documents for both the person applying and the person whose medical records they are asking for.

If you are a Doctor or Clinician and need to access medical records we hold to enable you to treat your patient, please email [email protected] with all the details.

If you are a member of staff or former member of staff and would like access to your employee records, including occupational health records, you will need to apply to our Human Resources Department at [email protected]. 

There is a form available to help you do this but you do not have to use this so long as your request is in writing (letter or email).  

If you make an application in writing to our Human Resources Department, they will need your full name, date of birth, address and payroll Number (or staff number) if known. They will also need a description of the records you are asking for and proof of who you are.

We will aim to deal with your request as quickly as possible and usually within a month. There may be reasons why we are not able to do this but if this happens, we will let you know and keep you up to date.

Please send your completed form, letter or email together with any documents we have asked for to: Workforce Department, Bensham Hospital, Saltwell Road, Gateshead, NE 4YL or email [email protected]

You can contact HR on 0191 445 5449.                   

If you are requesting information from this Trust that is not about a person please go to our Information Governance page.

Understanding your records

Sometimes clinicians will use abbreviations to communicate important information about a patient quickly.  

Retention Schedules

Records are only kept for a certain length of time depending on what the record is about and there is an NHS code of practice which guides hospitals on how long this should be.