PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Medical Records (9 July 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure that primary care providers are compensated by third party representatives of patients for providing copies of those patients' medical records.

Asked by:
Darren Jones (Labour)

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect from 25 May, replacing the Data Protection Act 1998. Within the updated regulation is the right of access, which gives individuals the right to obtain a copy of their personal data, including, from a health perspective, copies of medical records. Previously, under the Data Protection Act 1998, organisations were able to make a charge for dealing with the administration required in such a request. Under the GDPR, the ability in law to levy such charges has been removed in most cases.

One exception to this principle is medical information required by insurance companies for underwriting purposes. The right of access under GDPR confers more personal information than is needed or is justified for insurance underwriting. Accordingly, insurance companies should instead use the established mechanism of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 (AMRA) to obtain summary medical reports from general practitioners (GPs). The AMRA allows the GP to charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of copying the report.

Answered by:
Dame Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative)
12 July 2018