Linda,
Whilst the paper the records are on actually belong to the employer. The
content of them is in your custody for safe keeping. In a similar situation
I refused to let an employer have the notes and held on to them. I wrote to
all employees and told them that I would keep them as long as the company I
was employed by remained going. When they closed they were sent into archive
at head office and are in sealed containers and marked confidential medical
records. They will only be accessed by trained and suitably qualified
medical/ nursing practitioners.
Hope it helps
Neil
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hawkes, Lynda" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:33 AM
Subject: Occupational Health records
> I would appreciate comments/advice on the following scenario please:
>
> I work for an OH Consultancy and I have been looking after an engineering
> company which has just gone into receivership. I went in to collect
> personal possessions and the medical records and was told by the Health &
> Safety Manager that he had removed the medical records from my locked
filing
> cabinet and had put them in his office. He insisted that they were his
> property and I had no right to them. He had secretly held a key to the
> cabinet for the last 2 years.
> I spoke to the receivers who are not happy to give me the records until
they
> have spoken to their legal department but, thankfully after much
insistence
> on my part, the records have been moved from the Health & Safety office
into
> the area controlled by the receivers. I do suspect, however, that the H&S
> Manager has access to ALL areas of the site and could still access the
> records if he wished. He is also the Premises Manager by the way.
> My Manager, who has been brilliant, has informed the HSE and I have spoken
> to the legal bods at IOSH (the RCN and NMC were not helpful - the NMC
merely
> told me to contact RCN). My Manager is hoping to speak to Carol Bannister
> today as she has been out of the office at the beginning of the week.
> Needless to say, this has caused me much concern, having spent the last 2
> years assuring the employees that their records are confidential. Even
if,
> as thought by IOSH legal bods, I will not be held responsible because the
> records were in fact stolen, I still feel that I have let those employees
> down.
>
> Has anyone out there dealt with receivership cases etc and does anyone
have
> any advice or ideas??
>
> Lynda Hawkes
>
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