Our advocates work to ensure that people are fully represented in the decision-making processes that impact their lives. Our NHS Complaints Advocates support people to raise their concerns and complaints about NHS Care and Treatment. We provided Patrick (not his real name) advocacy support and this how we helped.
Patrick's Story
Before Patrick came to People First, he had distrust in his GP practice and in medical professionals in general due to his families past experiences. When Patrick was referred to People First, he wished to access his medical records for the whole of his life and was specifically interested in records filed around the time of his birth. Patrick didn’t know how to navigate this process which is why People First stepped in to help.
Support from an Advocate
Patrick was assigned an advocate and was supported in composing a formal letter to his GP practice to request copies of his records. However, initially there was no response from his GP practice which led to one our advocates contacting the practice on behalf of Patrick where the practice informed them that they had lost the letter. As a result, Patrick, with the support of his advocate, sent another letter, followed up by an email.
The GP practice provided Patrick with a response to his request to his medical records, however, the information provided was minimal and did not include records from the first 32 years of Patrick’s life. Understandably, this caused Patrick some distress so with the advocates support, Patrick contacted the practice again to ask them why there was so much information missing and the practice responded by advising him that the remaining records were paper copies, and as the practice did not own a photocopier they suggested Patrick should visit the practice in person to enable him to view the paper records. Due to Patrick’s his health conditions it was neither possible or safe for him to attend the surgery in person so following this, the advocate asked Patrick if he would like to make a complaint to which he advised he would.
Initially, the GP practice was unwilling to support Patrick to access the paper records any other way, other than viewing them in-person. It was at this point the advocate contacted the practice on Patrick’s behalf and strongly expressed his rights to the information, as outlined in the Data Protection Act, in a format that was accessible for him. The Practice responded that they were willing to arrange for the documents to be scanned and sent to Patrick by email, to which he agreed.
The Impact
Following this outcome Patrick felt an increased sense of confidence, especially in relation to accessing his medical records and he also felt a great sense of achievement that he had achieved what he set out to do with the support of the advocate.
Want to know more about our NHS Complaints Advocacy?
Click this link to download our NHS Complaints guide and FAQs for further reading.