[Solved] Writing to practice manager

Here's an example of the letter i wrote to my child's doctors:

F.A.O: Practice Manager

Subject: (CHILD/CHILDREN)
D.O.B:
CHILDS Address:

I have written to you on several occasions and so far you have failed to reply/respond to my request and I have never been given any medical/health information on my son.

I made these requests under the data protection act 1998. I am sure that you are aware of the guidance on Good Practice by the General Medical Council, in particular paragraph 55 which states that:
“Divorce or separation does not affect parental responsibility and you should allow both parents reasonable access to their children’s health records.”

Please ensure that my contact details are placed on my child's medical records and that I am immediately contacted in the event of anything prominent, such as allergies, serious conditions, dietary requirements etc…

I am making this request in the interests of my child and (HIS/HER/THEIR) wellbeing.

FAILURE TO RESPOND TO THIS THIRD REQUEST WILL RESULT IN ME BEING FORCED TO REPORT THIS TO THE LOCAL HEALTH AUTHORITY, AND YOUR LOCAL MP.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Please do not hesitate to contact me on the below telephone number, should you require further assistance or clarification.

Yours Sincerely,

The mother has contacted the Surgery and effectively made herself solely responsible for the child - meaning you cannot make appointments and/or have any medical information on your child, whether with PR or not.

I wrote and spoke with all levels of management at the surgery during early court days and until Mum says it is ok, it will never be. By all means write more letters and let us know how you get on.

The law on child medical records gives the mother greater powers than the father.

I don't believe that's true, you have been misinformed HO....here's a link to the BMA guidelines on PR and access to medical records, see the second page in the right hand column.

Some surgeries get it wrong and when that happens its best to escalate to the Area Health Authority or the BMA as referenced in Dad-i-d's template letter.

http://bma.org.uk/-/media/files/pdfs/practical%20advice%20at%20work/ethics/parentalresponsibility.pdf

As NJ said…..some practices do not understand the law about PR …… i had this issue and it took over almost a year to resolve.
Ask the practice for a complaints procedure, then ask for the details of their area authority team.
I had to get mine elevated right to the head of the local area health authority and eventually got an apology from them.
It means nothing but at least i got them to check their practice’s and remind them that a father has rights to their children’s records despite the mothers hostility

Many thanks for the template!! Letter has been sent off as of yesterday so hopefully I will hear from them soon. I suspected it will have been my ex who has done this.

If they do not comply I will be escalating this local area health authority, BMA and my local MP.

I will update this thread when new information presents itself.

Quick question, can the mother actually make herself soley responsible for child? Is there no legal procedure in place to prevent this?

Thank you all for your support. Don't know where I'd be without this website.

If the father (or anyone else for that matter) already has PR, then only a court can remove this, and it's pretty rare for it to do so, so legally she cannot make herself solely responsible - the only way she can be solely responsible is if that was the position from the start (ie no father named on the birth certificate, not married at time of birth).

I agree with everyone's comment but as dad-i-d mentioned, it's such a heartache correcting the mistake.

I had a similar situation with the school, which went away very quickly once I threatened legal actions.

Unfortuneately most hostile ex's (typically the mother) seem to think they can do what they want because they are the main carer for the child....

In my case for example, my ex re-registered our child at the pre-school (child) was going to, also the same at the doctors, dentists, and school when (child) got to school age.
i hadn't even been consulted regarding any of these, the only way i found out about her using a different surname than our childs birth name is via a mutual friend who had said that they'd seen (child) at school and that (child) looked so smart......i imediately contacted the school, arranged to see them and discuss what (child) was doing and how (child) was progressing.
i was told they had no child by that name there, to which i asked if they had a child of my ex's surname - we never maried but registered (child) in my surname as we had planned to be married in the next couple of years.
the school confirmed they had a child by that name.....to which i then had to prove the ex had registered (child) without permission and against the law. they quickly contact the ex, she took him out of that school and it took me 3-4mths to find out what school she'd then moeved him to (asked in court!).

same happend with the Doctors, and every other she can think of.....

please note i'm only using the term "(child)" in place of a name just in case the ex is trolling the websites and realises its about her.

@dad-i-d. Sounds like you've been through the mill. Hope things are now sorted

I can see my ex doing the same thing. What is most frustrating is being told by every authority that Ex seems to want my daughter and I to have a relationship, yet as soon as they have disappeared she does stuff like this! I feel like I am banging my head against a brickwall.

Was sorted out in 2013 when she was threatened that she would have received a 3mth suspended sentence had i filed the correct forms (thanks to sh*te court advice and wrong form given me by them)….the judge ordered contact and she stuck to the order to the letter….but restricting the “expectations of the court for contact increase to regular overnights” so had to take it back to court this year and now i’ve no direct contact due to good old family justice, cafcass and a lack of legal law knowledge on my part that let her get away with this until the end of the year (yet another so called Final hearing)
McKenzie friend or a Barrister will be there at that one cos i’m not giving up without a fight or her going to prison after the 7yrs of [censored] she has put me and my child’s grandparents and other family through!

FNF meeting has helped me no end....can highly recommend finding a local one and going having a chat, wish i'd have done that 6yrs ago when i first started out on the legal route

Quick Update. Over the weekend my daughter had a very bad cough, struggling to breath, weazing when doing any sort of acitivity. I took her to emergency doctors appointment and low and behold she has a chest infection.

I have asked ex to take daughter to doctors for 2 weeks now and she has come up with every excuse under the sun. She wasn't even bothered when I informed her about emergency doctors appointment or how bad daughter had got.

As I am applying for custody soon, can I use this as part of my evidence? I have emails/texts from myself asking her to take daughter to doctors, phone calls to doctors etc