An Inquest into the death of a newborn has highlighted another issue that families, and their solicitors, encounter: missing medical records.
It was worse in this very sad case, where there was a Court Order to preserve some records and the Hospital solicitors actively destroyed them[1].
The Trust responsible for the hospital where Ida Lock was born, on 9 November 2019, had sent the original cardiotocograph (CTG) traces (these record both maternal contractions and the baby’s heart rate) to their solicitors to be copied. The newspaper article states “at some point staff at Hill Dickinson “confidentially shredded” the records, despite being subject to a court order requesting they be sent to the coroner.”
There are quite strict rules governing confidential medical records[2]. These include to accessing your medical records, or those of someone else (with their permission)[3], and correcting errors in your records[4].
Equally, there are rules to guide how long certain medical records are kept by healthcare providers. For maternity records (including CTG traces) the minimum period to retain those records is 25 years after the birth of the last child[5].
The availability of relevant medical records is usually critical in determining the standard of care provided to the person concerned.
Not all problems are the result of clinical or medical negligence. However, some are and so if you feel that you or a loved one suffered an injury as a result of medical negligence then please contact us if you wish to discuss your potential claim for compensation.
Our expert Medical Negligence team consists of dedicated specialists with many years of experience in bringing successful claims for medical negligence for those who have suffered negligently caused injuries.
We provide an initial free, defined, no obligation, review of your circumstances to see whether there may be grounds for a claim.
Dr Darren Conway PhD[6] is a Solicitor in our Medical Negligence department[7] here at Ward & Rider, specialising in helping those who have suffered an avoidable injury in a medical setting.
If you want to find out more and see how Ward & Rider could help you, click HERE[8]
Or call us on 0800 316 5887
For more information regarding the NHS complaints process, please click HERE[9].
This article does not constitute legal advice and you should contact us directly if you are facing a similar situation.
[1] NHS trust’s law firm ‘shredded’ original medical records despite court order | Lancs Live
[2] What is special category data? | ICO
[3] Getting copies of your information (SAR) | ICO
[4] Your right to get your data corrected | ICO
[5] Retention of health records
[6] Dr Darren Conway PhD | Medical Negligence Lawyer at Ward & Rider
[7] Medical Negligence Lawyers and Solicitors | Ward & Rider Solicitors
[8] Contact Ward & Rider Solicitors
[9] NHS England » Feedback and complaints about NHS services
