Notes lost after Doctors retirement

Gael23

One of the consultants I see has retired recently and my medical notes seem to have disappeared. He was fairly old school and for quite a few years nothing was computerised so most of it will be on paper. As it was his own clinic, the place has just ceased to exist on his retirement so I'm wondering what to do?
The best I can think of is to get all relevant notes and test results from my GP and bring it to new consultant.

Ihaveanopinion

I would hope that he would have corresponded with your GP about your care - so your GP should have a copy of the care you have received to date, along with the relevant details of your condition.

If he is a private consultant, the notes are his property. He is not obliged to keep them upon retirement or give you a copy, however some retired consultants retain a copy of these records for precisely this reason. Alternatively if your care involved hospital care, the hospital will retain records of that care.

Gael23

Yes there's 20 odd years of correspondence between him and various GPs I've had over the years. What I don't have is test results of examinations he would have done. Having said that a new consultant will order up their own tests anyway.
It was a private clinic and not attached to a hospital at all.

Gongoozler

Ihaveanopinion wrote: »

I would hope that he would have corresponded with your GP about your care - so your GP should have a copy of the care you have received to date, along with the relevant details of your condition.

If he is a private consultant, the notes are his property. He is not obliged to keep them upon retirement or give you a copy, however some retired consultants retain a copy of these records for precisely this reason. Alternatively if your care involved hospital care, the hospital will retain records of that care.

No, no, no, no, no, no.
Wrong.

Your medical records are your property, not that of the doctor, regardless of what kind of setup he/she has. The data protection commissioner is the person to talk to about getting a copy of your records, if he is not complying. Having retired though, that's a slightly different story. Again the DPC will be the ones to talk to about what obligations he will have had to keep records after retirement.

Ihaveanopinion

Apologies - probably overstated things. However one of the rules for the dpc is that the notes are kept for no longer than is necessary - hence no real requirement to keep them upon retirement.

In reality, most doctors would give you your notes without difficulty but I still think the best bet is going through your GP

Gael23

Yes m going to go through my GP. I actually have the notes because my GP surgery shut down a while back and I got a copy of my files at that time.
When I go to the new consultant for the first time, I'm going to get one of my parents to come with me because they will remember things that happened when I was very young much better than I will.