[Solved] Accessing Medical records - what a farce

I a no expert and I could be wrong but I believe there are letter templates available to write to your childs GP informing that you do have rights to this sort of thing.

I will take a look to see if I can find one for you.

I may be misunderstanding or incorrect but I will take a look.

Meanwhile I am sure other more knowledgeable will respond.

Regards,

Dave

Does this help at all?

http://www.separateddads.co.uk/write-school-gp-for-information-template.html

It may be you still have to pay some money, I know I have had to but that was to get my ex medical records made available.

I paid £50 because there are a lot of them however it could be as little as £20. I belive it may differ from GP to GP

Regards,

Dave

Thanks DaveR.
The Dr. has stated that I can see the records (for £50) once I've provided proof of Parental Responsibility (for £215) and a court visit.
I'm annoyed that it was ex's choice to leave & take our son so far away & that I have to almost bankrupt myself to get small window of access or any info.
My son is worth every penny, I just can't help feeling like the laws are too much in favour of the mother.

mmmm....proof of PR.

Cant a copy of the birth certificate prove that if it was registered after 2003?

What proof do you have to provide that costs £215?

Regards,

Dave

Unmarried Couples
In general terms, an unmarried mother is deemed to have "parental responsibility" for her children. For births registered in England or Wales; as a father you have parental responsibility if:
The child's birth was registered after December 1st, 2003 and your name is on the certificate as the father.
If the child was born before that time with no father listed on the birth certificate, but the birth was later re-registered with you named as the father.
If you and the child's mother sign a Parental Responsibility Agreement.
If you're given a parental responsibility order by the court, or a Residence Order for the child to live with you.
If you marry the child's mother.

Well done Dave that template letter on the separated dads website should do the trick, and PR can be proven with a copy of the birth certificate and marriage certificate. If your son was born after December 1st 2003 as stated above, and you are on the birth certificate then you automatically have PR.

Yes I agree with that and I would put that the letter too, in a new paragraph "Under the law ......blah blah blah" and I now enclose the original birth certificate and marriage certificate, that confirms you have PR automatically. They should know that aspect of the law at least!! And they can easily find out!

Thanks for all of the responses.
We were married when our son was born and I'm on his birth certificate, so I automatically have PR.
The Dr has requested "a copy of the court documents that state you have Parental Responsibilty to enable us to proceed with your request". So I'm not sure if they would be happy with the birth & marriage certs.
I've applied for a copy of his birth certificate (which was too easy in these days of identity fraud), that will be with me in 3 weeks.
The ex took all of the copies of the marriage & birth certificates.

To get proof of PR, you have to apply on
https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities/apply-for-parental-responsibility

As I believe that the ex won't sign a Parental Responsibility Agreement, I'd have to apply for a court order - which is the £215

I think the doctor is wrong! Give your solicitor a call and ask them for a letter confirming you have PR.

The ex would only be required to sign the parental responsibility agreement if you didn't have PR and she was agreeing to you getting it...that doesn't apply here.

If you print of the criteria for PR from the .gov website and forward that with the copy of the birth certificate, that should suffice.

Have a look at the court documents from your previous court case and see if there's mention of it on the order...My sons order specifies he has PR.

This might help

www.thecustodyminefield.com/Factsheets/TCM-PR-Print.pdf

NJ is right, the GP (Probably his staff!) is most definitely wrong! NJs suggestion to send a copy of the info relation to PR is a good idea. You have PR, you do not need to sign a Parental Responsibility Agreement, that document is only for those without PR

Agreed,

this is rubbish......Contact the practice manager say who you are and that you would like to access your childs records.

If you do not get a satisfactory response make a complaint.

The practice manager will want to avoid this 🙂

What is your current situation? Are you self repping and does she have a solicitor. Why do you have such infrequent contact?
Are you going back to court.......? You will need to highlight her reluctance to facilitate contact.

Let us know how it goes with the practice manager. Also get the name of the doctor who declined you as a parent to view the medical records.

Either way have a plan of where this is going.....either there will or will not be records to refute or resolve whether your child has been ill. If she is lying - what will you do (eg write to her solicitor or goto court. If she is telling the truth how is she able to make contingencies given the lack of frequency of contact.

I'll call the practice manager & let them know that my son's birth cert showing my name as the father should suffice.
In court, the ex had said that our son had been on antibiotics twice in 6 weeks for different complaints, when asked for details & Dr's note, her barrister said "the Father has PR, he can speak to the Dr", lots of requests & over 3 months later I was given the Dr's name.
If I find that she was lying, I'll bring that up in court, she did lie in court on 2 occasions, but there was no proof. But that's not important, I just want know what is happening with my son.

I'm represented by a solicitor, my ex was on legal aid until the last court visit & even they've given up on her after she got through 3 or 4 different law firms.
Using legal aid paid Barristers, they tried to say that since the ex left & hadn't allow any unsupervised contact, that our son was too young & clingy to his mother to be out of her sight.
They agreed for contact, but made it such a long, drawn out process that it's taken about 9 months to get from:
- Supervised contact for up to an hour (shortest was 20 minutes) at her families home with up to 6 of her family in the room. I had a 6 hour drive for that.
- Part supervised contact where she was forced by the court to leave the room for the majority of the contact, but I couldn't take him out of her familes home. (the ex would watch the contact & even interrupt it)
- 3 hours unsupervised where I could go anywhere with him (if North London traffic would allow)
- 7 hours unsupervised
- 27 hours every 21 days unsupervised (where I spend 12 hours in the car pick him up & drop him off - the ex does nothing to help)

I've asked the ex for Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon every 3 weeks. As I work full time & it's so far to travel, access every 2 weeks is too tiring for me & it was awkward enough to get the ex to agree to 3 weeks. I even offered to pay the ex for her fuel if she picked him up, she refused. Even though it was her choice to move so far away from our family home.

Back in court soon to point out that the contact is going well I that the contact should be extended, the ex will object of course.

440Error/StrokeBloke (same person, there was an issue logging in on my normal account).
I contacted the GP's Administrator as the practice manager was out, they weren't sure of what proof they needed. I've offered copies of the court letters & they will confirm with the practice manager when she's in.
It was the practice manager that said that I needed to provide that but she will call me back tomorrow.

Speak to no one less than the practice manager. Just state you want the records. If you not heard by 12 -call them!

The issues you should be working to are now the duration. Given the distance long contact would not be unreasonable with overnight stays now. Is the child sleeping through?

I would probably suggest asking for alternate weekends fri-sunday and so she may compromise.

Good luck

Our son has always slept in the same bed with my ex until the 1st overnight contact I had with him (at 18 months). This was advised against from his birth by the Dr, the midwifes,me, our familes & friends.
The 1st overnight, he woke a few times but only for minutes, he actually slept for almost 12 hours in his room at my house. He slept for 2 hours in the car too. So in effect, the 1 day I get him for every 3 weeks, half is spent with him asleep.
Since then, the ex has stated that he needs to sleep in his own !?! (like I've said since birth)

I have politely requested increased time in the contact sessions after summer, I have said that instead of going back to court again, that we should try to work together to give our son the best opportunities in life & asked for Fri to Sun every 3rd week, a share of his birthdays & (as the ex has turned to Islam) I should be able to spend Christmas with him. She said that she wouldn't consider any increase until he's old enough to make his own decisions. (he's almost 2)

I've sent a copy of the court order to the Practice Admin, she is trying to get the access to my son's records approved.

Success! Just had a call from the GP, they're sending the medical records today. Apparently, they had to wait for the test results to come back before sending them. They wouldn't tell me over the phone what they were testing for.... I was unaware that there was anything wrong with him.

Cool well done.....

I hope your lad is wel...

regards,

Dave

Result!

As Dave says, hope your son is ok

In the continuing saga of accessing my son's medical records, the GP is sending them to me today... They took 10 working days to get them ready. That's the good news.
My ex is saying that (during the day that I see our son) that he got an infection/virus - which is very unlikely as we noticed it within hours of him getting here & didn't go out at all or mix with anyone apart from my parents (all are healthy).
The GP won't tell me anything about it as "You need to formally write to the Dr's surgery, the Dr will access the current records" & also confirm with my ex that she's happy for me to know about it!!! - Oh, and they will charge me again for the service...

My understanding is that as a parent with PR you should be able to see all medical records and notes, you should not need any permission from your ex.

Id e interested to hear what others with experience of this have to comment but it sounds like your getting the run around.

Regards,

Dave

Well done on getting the notes - they were bound to cave in, its your right!

Should be able to access all information related to kids. what they may do however - is not divulge any information disclosed by your ex as they in theory cannot divulge third party information without her consent so black out her bits.

You should however have reports of what the doctor saw, found and decided on how best to manage the problem eg calpol etc.... I forget how old the kids are and whether any specific advice was offered with regards to the not attending schools etc....

The reality is kids pick up bugs all the time and its important they get some exposure to build their immune system. I wouldnt get vexed by her claims. Even in the unlikely event from the restricted contact you had it is highly unlikely this was the cause but even if it was - what can you do about it? She is just being petty so dont play down to it.

BW

Thank you all.

I received the records today - one of the entries, the day after I had him for a night, stated that my son had been stressed, not sleeping or eating & showed signs of him crying for an extended period (according to the ex wife, no actual proof). The Dr made no comment in it.
When he was with me, he slept well, ate without issue and had been playing with me & my parents.
I think my ex has been taking our son to the Dr with falsified symptoms to get it recorded officially with the plan to use it in court...

Good stuff - amounts to the usual false allegations and I think you just need to demonstrate the lengths she is prepared to go to.

Do you have a handover book or some way of communicating how your child was overnight. Presumably all you would have already stated that he slept and ate well so for her to allege that he hasnt slept well when you know he has is reasonably dismissable.

Anything actually worthwhile in the medical notes then :)?

BW,

....if brought up in court it could be argued that this is a reaction to missing you rather than being upset about going and if he were to see more of you this would settle down. If he was reacting to not wanting to be with you there would be signs of that during the contact and not after.

Yes agreed - its insidious separation anxiety

There were a few interesting parts in the notes, apparently he's been to A&E - I wasn't told. Another time, he was diagnosed with a contagious infection 2 days before I had him for contact - which I wasn't told.

You as a parent with PR should be made aware of medical issues especially those that cause sufficient concern that your child attends accident emergency. Also if you reside with people who may be vulnerable to infections (old or those with chronic disability) she has a moral obligation as a parent to inform you of this in case it is contagious to those around you. Instead she makes false allegations that your child is sick as a consequence of a visit however in fact the child was noted to be sick 2 days prior. An issue to raise as you are not being correctly informed as a loving caring father.