"Difficulties in getting hold of my medical records & inconsistent practices"

I had my first PET scan at ERI Imaging Facility.  The appointment was made by my health board, NHS Fife Oncology, and it came through quickly.  The appointment itself went smoothly.  So far so good.  

I then submitted a Subject Access Request to my health board, NHS Fife, but I was told that I had to apply directly to Lothian health board as they performed the scan. 

Patients should have a single point of access to our records, and asking me to approach another health board is not a patient centred approach.  I have just gotten used to the NHS Fife system and now I was being asked to navigate a new system in order to see my medical record.  This was frustrating as I knew the report would be sent to my health board.  

I now had to navigate a new health board's SAR system, and my health board did not give me any help with this, no sign-posting was included in their email telling me I had to apply to NHS Lothian.

The SAR paperwork asked how I would like to receive the report and I requested by email.  However, it turns out that NHS Lotian is not set up to email patients their reports, so they posted the report to me instead.  The email tick box should not be included on the form if it is not an option - if it is an option for some departments but not others, then why has this not been rolled out to all departments?

I like to receive my reports as soon as possible after the procedure.  This reduces the time I spend in scanxiety mode and it motivates me to play an active role in managing my health condition (secondary cancer).  Sometimes I want to share my report with a private practitioner so I need to receive the report asap.  I also want to read reports before I meet with my oncologist so that I have time to absorb the information and know what I want to ask/discuss at my appointment.  This again reduces scanxiety in the waiting room, and makes my appointment quicker thus saving the oncologists precious time.  

In this case, the report was not received until after I had seen my oncologist.  I spent two weeks in scanxiety mode, checking my emails daily for the result, only to finally find out after I called the department that they would be posting the report to me.  I was told the report had been posted to me a few days after they received my SAR, yet it took a month before it arrived.  I happened to see my Postie the day he delivered the envelope, and he said that it had not been delayed by the postal service; this suggests that the report sat in NHS Lothian for at least 3 weeks before it was mailed to me.

Patient access to medical records is inconsistent across and within health boards.  Some services email patients directly and accept an email as a request, others require a SAR for each & every report requested and may take a month to process the application. This is not patient-centred. I feel it is inefficient and time consuming for patients and staff alike.  Whilst updating IT infrastructure might require central government support, there is much that health boards can do to streamline their own services to better serve their patients.