You have the right under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, subject to certain exemptions, to access records that Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (WCHC) hold about you. This is known as a ‘subject access request’ (SAR).
What is a Subject Access Request?
This is a request for the information held in a person’s health and social care record.
What information am I entitled to?
You are entitled to have access to all information within the health and social care record, except:
- When access would not be in accordance with the patient/service user’s wishes
- Information the care team feel may cause harm or distress
- Information gained from a third party which was given in confidence
- Any identifying information about the above third party.
How long?
You will receive your records within 1 calendar month of the receipt of your application. Where the request is complex or numerous the period may be extended by a further two months.
Can I make a request on behalf of others?
Yes you can. However, we need to be satisfied you are entitled to act on behalf of someone else and you will need to provide evidence of this entitlement such as:
- Written consent from the person you are acting for
- Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare
- Administrator of the Estate (in the case of a deceased person)
- Court appointed litigation friend and/or appointed by the court of protection documents.
We may need to contact the person you are acting for directly, if their consent has not been provided. Where consent is not available due to the person not having capacity, a decision will be made on a case by case basis.
Please note there is no law entitling you to exercise subject access rights on another person’s behalf. However, in the above circumstances, rights of access may be granted.
Can I request a deceased person’s records?
Yes – an individual has a right of access to a deceased patient’s health record if they are:
- The patient’s personal representative e.g. Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare · the executor of the estate
- The designated administrator of the patient
- A person making a claim arising from the patient’s death (assessed on a case by case basis).
How to apply for access to your own records
Download the Request Access to your Records application form.
Applications should be made in writing using the application form. The completed form should be sent to:
Access Request
General Office
Victoria Central Health Centre
Mill Lane
Wallasey
CH44 5UF
Tel: 0151 604 7592
Email: [email protected]
What other rights do I have?
- To be informed why, where and how we use your information
- To ask for access to your information
- To ask for your information to be corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
- To ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it
- To ask us to restrict the use of your information.
- To ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way, without impacting the quality of the information
- To object to how your information is used
- To challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making)
For more information, please visit https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/
