Hi everyone,
Next Feb’ I will be moving back to the uk. I will need my medical records to give to my new uk Health provider. Does anyone know how I can do this ?
Thanks !
speak with your family doctor, in the first instance, Ireckon.
Personally, I’ve still got every x-ray etc and Specialists Reports since I first arrived… mountains of documents and folders.
If you’ve had scans/tests/whatever you should have the results somewhere.
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I moved to a different doctor recently, the original doctor face me all of my records on a usb stick that I provided.
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Be careful how you do this. Maybe only provide the new surgery with copies while you keep the originals.
In 2013 I handed over a large hard copy file covering my healthcare in Hong Kong 1983 - 2013. Not a single part of this history, operations and treatments, were entered online into my NHS file by the practice. I needed to repeat with each visit pertinent information that was never recorded. By 2020 we were moving to France. Upon formally withdrawing from the surgery and NHS, I requested the return of my medical files.
Gone with the wind!
I subsequently put in a formal complaint to NHS but the answer came back that there was no file. Finito.
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As Stella says request file from your doctor. But also check your espace santé as that’s where my compte rendu’s from specialists are.
Yes we asked the receptionist at our previous doctor’s surgery and the whole dossier was ready a couple of days later. More than can be said for our English doctor. He refused to to hand them over.
We weren’t asked for anything when we registered at our local surgery, my wife showed the pharmacy the French prescription for her regular meds but that’s all.
A friend had the same but UK doc refused to view it in case of a computer virus.
A French clinic recently asked us to bring OH’s records re the matter in hand.
I turned up with a mountain of info/x-rays/echos/charts etc, dating back to his first major “wobble” in 2005 and the lady laughed and said that 2022 onwards would be just fine… 
now I’m wondering, do I really need tokeep all this stuff? and no, much of it is not on Espace Sante/whatever - because it’s tooo old, I guess.
No doubt because they’d lost the lot!
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I have loaded things I think useful onto Espace Santé. Plus keep a running summary of main events, appointments, changes in treatment etc. (And graphs of my inflammation levels etc as I’m a nerdy control freak)
I think the advice to keep originals is sound, or if you *must* hand over originals keep copies.
I’m surprised the GP didn’t just say they could not incorporate printed information in your UK health records (GP’s have been digital for donkeys) - would have saved a lot of grief all round.
Don’t forget that they will be in French (apart from imagery) and will likely be useless to the vast majority of NHS workers.
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No it was quite deliberate, the head of the practice made no bones about it. It was because I had reported our doctor because he had refused to attend Fran after I found her unconscious on the floor. I appealed all the way to the BMA but the answer was always the same, ‘they belong to the practice, not to you’. So our excellent doctor here was forced to shrug his shoulders and start from scratch.
You do have the right to see your medical records since some time, in UK.
In France I think the approach is different - you are supposed to arrange many medical things yourself and this kind of implies you keep your own records. For most their MT will hold most or all anyway but I think we hold the responsibility ourselves.
I had no doubt we had a moral right, but the head of practice was king, and not a nice one at that. But this was in the early to mid '90s.
I think that in the UK each practice could choose its own software for storing information - does anyone know if that’s still the case?
I’ve had a couple of hospitalisations this year, and I was very impressed how the different departments - and my MT - all had instant access to my information.
I was given a paper copy of my full medical history to forward to my solicitors and insurance company.
You have a legal right as well, although back in the 90’s the practice dragons were often odious persons. You could put in a subject access request which they cannot ignore.