Advice needed please
 

On the plus side, a nephew was studying for a degree at Exeter University and this year attained a 2:1, also he has a job lined up in Oxford

On the negative side, he has been suffering from depression and anxiety following the death of his Mother 2 years ago. She died from a brain tumour.

His GP in Exeter stopped his antidepressants 2 months ago and my nephew can’t get a new GP in Oxford because his Exeter GP refuses to transfer his medical records over.

Can anything be done about the GP’s refusal?

Advice needed please
 

Hi Phil

Pretty sure medical records can be accessed online using your nhs number?

Surely can’t be allowed for a gp to hold onto someone’s record?

Firstly congratulations to your Nephew on their degree :bowdown:

Just spoke to Marina on this and she simply said "A GP cannot refuse to transfer your records.". She said if this happens the first port of call is the Surgery Manager.

Her experience on the sequence of events is that you register with a new Practice, you are then allocated a GP. It is the new Practice that then request the records from the old Practice, not the GP as they do not own them.

It's worth noting that there are instances when a person doesn't know or cannot remember their previous GP or Practice and these people can still register with a new Practice and subsequent GP. All the medical history info in the UK is held electronically on what is called "System 1" and is accessible by all GP's on line using your NHS number.

Is this any help?
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/abo...in-to-the-nhs/

Has your nephew spoken to the university, surly they have professional counsellors that can help?

He made need more then just tablets, he may need to speak to a counsellor. My daughter was at Nottingham and saw a counsellor who was wonderful, good luck

macafee2

Hello Philip,

From my own experience, and bearing in mind your nephew's age, I would say that it's perfectly natural for him to feel depressed, particularly concerning the reason for his mother's death. Two years is nothing in such circumstances. Consequently I don't agree with his previous GP's decision to prescribe anti-depressants although they typically do. Drugs don't address the underlying cause, they just mask the symptoms as I'm sure you know Philip.

macafee2's suggestion is a better solution. Ideally, your nephew may benefit from talking about his feelings with someone who has had the same experience, or a psychologist, but steer clear of psychiatry and drugs. :o

I hope he manages to resolve the medical records problem. As you know, the NHS' bureaucracy can be very demanding.

Simon

The system is not as patient-orientated as many think it to be. Only when they come up against a problem, such as this one, do thy begin to understand that it is a stich-up in favour of a GP's practice and its allocated turf to operate on. I encountered it when my allotted practice closed its doors and I tried to go to another, I could not believe the attitude of the practices I approached. I was shocked to discover that it was like ice cream van wars, each with their own little territory which must be defended at all cost. Why are you coming to us when you are not in our catchment area, I was asked in no uncertain terms by every single practice I approached. Go away or ultimately, we are not taking on any new patients was the response of choice that I encountered. This appalling state of affairs was well and truly clocked by former Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, who looked set to change the system had the then government retained power.

I went for some time without a GP leaving me with A & E at the local hospital as the only option had I needed medical assistance, which by the grace of God I did not at the time. I did however contact the local Primary Care Trust about my predicament and it advised that it could, as a last resort, instruct a practice to take me but it may not like it and it would be best for me to try to find one to take me on its books of its own accord. So, Phil, if you are out of options you could give the relevant trust a call to see what if anything can be done. Could it be that your nephew is still living in the catchment area of the GP who won't release his records?

:smilie_re: My predicament as outlined above only resolved itself when my closed practice eventually opened its doors again when new GP's were found to run it.

Sorry to hear of these experiences. Medical and dental records do belong to the patient, and you have a right to at least have a copy, although this may be charged for by some practices. On line access is also offered now by most GP practices, but not dentistry yet. Much depends on the attitude of individual Drs. In dentistry, there are binding out clauses in contracts which almost treat the patients as possessions of the principal(s) of a practice. They are designed to prevent young associates moving locally and taking a large list of patients with them ( which instantly reduces the income of the original practice). Private dental practices are usually only too happy to register new patients, but the NHS generally is suffering from too many demands. This leads to a reluctance to increase the list size in some areas.
I've had the message 'your call is important to us, please hold, you are number x on the list' many times, but I know of some who have had ' We are oversubscribed and unable to take your call, please call back next week!'
And if you get too upset, your get de-listed. Good luck to us all.
Ps. Our second son has been living with us now for over 10 years. He is intelligent, but has mood swings which are heavily influenced by food choices. There is a book called 'Food mind and mood' which is worth reading. Anti- depressants are a short term solution, but long term is all about how those around the depressed individual can help. Diet and exercise with meaningful work are all very important.

I note that is moving to a different health area so trying to keep him is not practical:duh:

Hi Andy, thank you, since posting up my question I have an update. My nephew has moved to Woodstock and is due to start work as a labourer for a furniture removals company. He is also registered with a new GP, but the old GP still has not sent the records over. It will be good for my nephew to get out, meet people and earn a living, I hope he makes it.

Thank you for your observation.