Health Records in United Kingdom

Definition of Health Records

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Health Records : Records kept by the National Health Service about patients. Under the Access to Health Records Act 1990, from 1 November 1991 most patients were given the right to see their health records. The patient does not have to give a reason for wanting access and can authorize someone else, such as his solicitor, to obtain access on his behalf. It is a policy of the Department of Health that individuals are permitted to see what has been written about them and that health_care providers should make arrangements to allow patients to see, if they wish, records other than those covered by the 1990 Act. This Act has been amended by the Data Protection Act 1998 (See also data protection).