[Solved] Access to medical records

This info from the BMA explains it well

https://www.bma.org.uk/-/media/files/pdfs/practical%20advice%20at%20work/ethics/children%20and%20young%20people%20toolkit/childrenyoungpeopletoolkit_card2.pdf

However as you have sole care of your child for overnight stays, there may be good reason why you should be party to any medical issues he may have, if something were to happen whilst he was in your care and you weren’t conversant with any treatments or knowledge of symptoms etc, it would be difficult to care for him appropriately.

If you have the name of his consultant or other member of the team supporting him I can’t see that there would be anything wrong with calling them to discuss your concerns.

Best of luck

I had, and still have a situation where my ex will not involve me in anything to do with my daughters wellbeing. She is only accepting that I have her to stay with me, but then that suits her too.

She needs to take medication, which I am not happy about, or rather think is excessive for her. My ex would not tell me when appointments with the specialist were, the outcomes, or discuss any of her thoughts on what is best for our daughter. She was totally shutting me out.

She also had the specialist involved, who would not respond to any of my requests, only to say that you need to discuss it with your childs mother - the very person who wont discuss anything with me!

The third time this happened(over an 18 month period)I emailed in to say that I would be taking this through the hospital PALS complaints procedure for the way the specialist has handled the situation. There was silence for a day, I assume while they read all of my perfectly reasonable requests for information only and I was then informed the specialist had been removed from my daughters care and been replaced with another. The new Doctor is now including me in conversations and her care.

So my suggestion is, make a complaint through the appropriate official channels, if you feel you are not being treated as you should expect and are entitled to.

How old is your daughter HRabbit? This posters teenage child is instigating the block on information being passed to him, which can happen. A child over the age of 12 can be assessed as “gillick competent” by the medical team and make their own decisions about treatment and information sharing.

My daughter is 14 currently. I was under the impression that as a father with parental rights I was entitled to view the medical records of my daughter.

At the same time as trying to get this resolved with a complaint to the hospital the specialist worked at, I also went to my local Doctors surgery. The practice manager told me I was certainly entitled to get access to the medical records they held for my daughter.

I therefore assumed the removal of the specialist from my daughters care was recognition of that also. In case of misunderstanding, my reqest has only ever been to be involved in the discussion and have my views listened to, acknowledged and responded. All of my emails have been polite and reflecting just that desire.

The issue has been a deliberate policy of my ex wife to exclude me from any conversations or involvement with any element of my daughters wellbeing, not just the medical issue - school as well. She is not a good person!

If you read the link I provided, or research gillick competence you will see that children over 12 do have the right to refuse medical information about them being shared, even with their parents.

If your daughter herself were to state that she didn’t want her medical information shared with you, unless there was a really good reason for that not to happen, they would be likely to consider her competent enough to make that decision... at least that’s my understanding of it.

Perhaps your daughter doesn’t have an enduring medical condition with a team of medical professionals, so the issue of gillick competence isn’t an issue. As the OPs son is disabled, his team may have discussed this with him, or as the OP suspects, the mother has something to do with it... but that would be difficult to prove.

Yes, she would class as special needs, but not an enduring medical condition.

So my experience may not be fully relevant but seems so in parts, so thought to put in the mix.....

Absolutely! You always give good advice HR.

Bluemoon61...

I think if your son is judged competent enough to make that decision he is also mature enough to discuss his decision with you... I totally understand why you would much rather keep him out of the loop, but if, after talking to his medical team, you’re no further forward, I don’t see you have any other option. If you have a good relationship with him, it’s reasonable to want to talk to him about it.

Best of luck

Thanks for all the various comments

One specific suggestion that I am curious about: "if, after talking to his medical team, you’re no further forward".....I have not been talking to his medical team for sometime. I have been taking all updates on his medical condition from his mother who has been forwarding me their correspondence and creating her own summary reports.

My son's condition involves multiple disciplines being involved so who were you suggesting I "talk to" ?

Perhaps you could start with his consultant or his GP? I would have thought the GP would know about it.

Who do the majority of the letters come from? I was just suggesting that you speak with them about your sons decision, has your ex forwarded any correspondence from them regarding your sons decision to exclude you?