Seeing your health, social care and support records

What you can ask to see

You have a right to request a copy of your personal information. This is called a subject access request, or SAR. It can cover health notes, care assessments, support-provider records and relevant emails or other communications about you. The right is to your personal information, not automatically every whole document or everything about other people. You can ask for specific records or all your personal information held by the organisation.

Contact the organisation that holds it

Ask the GP practice for its records, the hospital trust for hospital records and the council for its social care records. A support provider may hold separate daily notes, incident records or care plans. You may need more than one request. The organisation’s privacy notice usually gives a data protection contact. Social Work England regulates social workers but does not hold their councils’ case files. NHS England does not keep every person’s full local clinical record in one place.

Online access is useful but may be incomplete

Some GP information is available through the NHS App or other approved online services. This does not automatically show all historical information, hospital files or social care records. Ask what is visible and what needs a separate request. You can still request copies without using an app. If another person helps online, ask about authorised access with appropriate limits instead of sharing your login details.

Make a clear request in a way that works

You can ask verbally or in writing; you do not have to use a particular form or legal phrase. A short written request can help track what was asked. Include enough information to identify you, the relevant service, useful dates and the records wanted. You do not have to explain why. Ask for the format you need, such as large print, an accessible electronic file or help understanding abbreviations. Keep a copy and the date of the request.

Choose help and agree its limits

You can authorise someone to request information for you. The organisation can ask for evidence of their authority and proportionate identity checks. Explain whether the helper may receive everything or only specified records. Being a parent, partner, carer or next of kin does not automatically give access to an adult’s records. If the adult cannot make the particular decision, the organisation must consider the relevant legal authority and safeguards. A diagnosis alone is not evidence that the person cannot decide.

Know the usual time limit

The organisation should respond without unnecessary delay, normally within one calendar month. If necessary identity information, representative authority or a lawful fee is requested, the start date depends on receiving it. For a complex request or several requests, it may extend by up to two further months, explaining why within the first month. Current ICO guidance allows a pause for clarification that is reasonably needed to find the information. It cannot force you to narrow your request. Ask it to explain the deadline it is using.

Understand charges and withheld information

Most requests are free. Limited exceptions can allow a reasonable fee or refusal, for example where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive; an organisation must justify this. Some material may be redacted, meaning parts are hidden, to protect another person’s information or because a legal exemption applies. Specific serious-harm rules can apply to health or social work records. This is not a general permission to withhold anything upsetting or critical. Ask for the reason and review route, as far as it can lawfully explain.

Read the response with support if useful

Choose a trusted person or advocate if the information is difficult to understand or distressing. Ask the service to explain unfamiliar terms and how it reached a decision. Compare the response with your request: are the dates, services and types of information covered? Keep a list of specific gaps rather than assuming a missing document proves wrongdoing. Store the records securely and share only what is needed for your purpose.

Correct facts and record disagreements

Identify the exact entry, date, factual error and correction you want, with supporting evidence where available. You can ask for inaccurate information to be corrected and incomplete information completed. A record of an earlier mistake may need to remain alongside the correction to show what happened. A clearly attributed professional opinion is not automatically inaccurate because you disagree. Ask for your disagreement and relevant evidence to be added, and challenge the underlying assessment separately where needed.

If the response is late, incomplete or refused

Contact the organisation’s data protection team, quote your request date and explain what remains unresolved. Ask it to review omissions, the reason for withholding information or the deadline. Complain to the organisation first; if still dissatisfied, you can complain to the ICO, the data protection regulator. It handles data protection concerns, not every clinical or care decision. Do not assume waiting for records pauses a court, benefit, NHS or council challenge deadline. Get appropriate advice about those deadlines separately.

Use the records request worksheet

This original worksheet helps you plan and track requests. It is not a mandatory form and does not need to contain sensitive details until you choose to complete it. Keep identification documents separate and send them only through an appropriate secure route if requested. Ask for help choosing a narrower practical request if you want one; you can still ask for all your information.

Seeing your records

What you can do next

More useful links