I have checked the Access to Health Records Act 1990 in Butterworths Direct
which is supposed to show the current state of the law. S. 3 reads as
follows
"3 Right of access to health records
(1) An application for access to a health record, or to any part of a health
record, may be made to the holder of the record by any of the following,
namely-
(a) ...
(b) ...
[(cc)...]
(e)...
[(ee) where the record is held in Scotland and the patient is incapable,
within the meaning of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000(asp 4)
in relation to making or authorising the application, any person entitled to
act on behalf of hte patient under that Act;]
(f) where the patient has died, the patient's personal representative and
any person who may have a claim arising out of the patient's death"
If Butterworths Direct sets out the Act correctly then apart for (ee) which
is not yet in force, and applies only in Scotland, the 1990 Act has no
appllication to the living. But I am a little uneasy because (d) is missing.
If it has been repealed there wought to be (d)....
Anyone know anything about this?
Rosemary Pattenden
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Welton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "rosepattenden" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 8:45 PM
Subject: RE: Medical Data and the Data Protection Act 1998
> Rosemary,
>
> Not being familiar with the medical area I have just applied the changes
> from Schedule 15 and 16 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to the Access to
> Health Records Act 1990. A quick reading of the Access to Health Records
> Act indicates it does continue to apply to the living, and have an affect
> their subject access rights. I can post a copy of the amendments to the
> list if people are interested. (It is not a long Act and there would be
> benefits from cross checking that I have conducted the alterations
> correctly.)
> Well spotted. It looks like an ooops from the DOH.
>
> Ian W
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of rosepattenden
> Sent: 20 March 2002 19:34
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Medical Data and the Data Protection Act 1998
>
> In a newly published leading book on civil liberties and human rights I
have
> just read that the Access to Health Records Act 1990 "continue[s] to
operate
> longside the Data Protection Act 1998, as the Secretary of State is
> empowered to exempt information about health from the access right of data
> subjects under the 1998 Act fn s.30(1)"
>
> It is my understanding that the 1990 Act only continues today to apply to
> access in respect of a deceased patient (since the DPA applies only to the
> living). But it is clear from the context that the author of this new work
> is talking about the living and the dead (including children who want to
> have access to their medical records). I would be grateful to be told if
I
> have completely misunderstood the legal position.
>
> Rosemary Pattenden
>
> Professor Rosemary Pattenden
> School of Law
> University of East Anglia
> Norwich NR4 7TJ
> United Kingdom
>
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