Access to Medical records - GP Practice

The access request has been sent to you as you are the last known GP Practice the patient was registered to. Please contact NHS England if you have any further queries regarding your role in an Access to Medical Records Request.

Documents requested from PCSE will be sent to the GP in PDF format. GPs can upload all documents, including PDF documents, into the record attachments section of the electronic patient record.

Practices may have access to redact patient records using internal software, e.g. in SystmOne called Subject Access Requests. Where electronic redaction software is being used and a patient record has been deducted when the user accesses the record, there will be a prompt to add data, then confirm YES and this allow them to override and add additional information/attachments.

Alternatively, Practices may choose to use third-party software such as IGPR or Adobe Acrobat Pro.

The Application should provide a signed authority for the application setting out whether they are the personal representative or, if not, state the basis under which their application is made e.g. they are the parent, sibling, etc of the deceased and have a claim as a dependent under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976.

If a solicitor is acting on a requester's behalf, it is the solicitor's responsibility to verify that the requester is the legitimate personal representative of the deceased or has a legitimate claim arising from the patient's death. The record holder can accept the solictor's statement that they have done the necessary checks, provided that they submit it to the record holder in writing by letter or email.

The Access to Health Records Act 1990 states that the medical records should be reviewed and if necessary redacted by the most appropriate healthcare professional before release. In most cases the appropriate healthcare professional is the most recent GP.  The healthcare professional is responsible for deciding whether access should be allowed, which records are appropriate for release and if any redaction is required.  There is further guidance around the redaction of records here. 

It is no longer a requirement for GP practices to print off the electronic/digital patient record for a deceased patient. GP Practices should still return the legacy paper Lloyd George medical record (if one exists) to PCSE and PCSE will store it on behalf of the Practice.  Should a Practice require an electronic copy of the Lloyd George record to respond to an Access to Health Record application, please visit the Accessing Medical Records and patient details page for more information. 

This information can be found in the published IG Guidance for Access to Health Records requests.

You remain responsible for the AHRA request but will need to contact PCSE to request the records, please visit the Contact Us page and complete a new Medical Record Movemtn enquiry.

If you work at a Practice and are unsure of what steps to take, please contact your ICB/Commissioner regarding the recent GP contract changes.

Deceased patient records no longer need to be printed and sent to PCSE.  However, PCSE will still continue to collect any legacy paper Lloyd George records.

To appeal a decision on disclosure please email pcse.accessrequests@nhs.net

Please ensure to include a statement as to why you wish to appeal the decision.

If your appeal is accepted, it will be passed to the NHS England Redaction team to review the initial decision.

If you or the person whose records you are requesting on behalf of are unregistered, PCSE will process the access application within 28 days.

In certain circumstances, this may not be possible (for example, where the record cannot be traced, or is held by a third party storage provider outside of the control of PCSE.)

If you are requesting records for a deceased person, GP practices are required to respond to Access to Health Records Act (AHRA) requests, however PCSE will process the Access to Health Records request if the last registered GP Practice has now closed. 

In these circumstances, if the request for a medical record is under the Access to Health Records Act 1990, PCSE will process the access application within 40 days. In certain circumstances, this may not be possible (for example, where the record cannot be traced, or is held by a third party storage provider outside of the control of PCSE.)

PCSE will update the applicant on likely timescales.

These are the types of information that PCSE can provide:

Medical Records

PCSE can only provide a copy of GP health records. 

Click here to submit a medical records enquiry.

Other parts of a patient’s health record may be held by hospitals, community or mental health trusts, as well as previous GP practices. You therefore may wish to apply separately to another health organisation. 

We cannot provide access to hospital, community or mental health records and we do not store any of the following:

• X-rays/transparencies – these will remain with the relevant NHS trust
• digital records
• hospital records – apply to the NHS trust
• private clinic records – available from the clinic concerned.

Patient GP Registration Information and demographic information

PCSE receive requests from a range of individuals and organisations to access demographic information including last known GP Practice. 

Click here to submit an enquiry.