Accessing Your Maternity Notes

“(T)he health service supports the right of a client to see what information is held about him or her within its service. Generally, access to an individual’s own health record should be provided administratively”

In order to access your records this way I advise that you Google the hospital and “access records” or “records request”. Usually this will result in a page with the relevant address and department information, or an enquiry form to fill in. Should the search be unsuccessful, you can call the hospital and ask them to walk you through their process.

When writing to your health care provider to request your maternity record you will need to include the following information along with any further information they have advised you to provide

•Your name at the time of your care
•Your date of birth
•Your baby’s name and date of birth if requesting their records (these are separate and will not routinely be sent with yours)
•Your current address and contact number

You may be asked to give a reason for requesting your record.

You should receive confirmation of your request within 3 working days from their receipt of the application, and a copy of your records within 15 working days. If the notes are not available to you by that time, you should receive notification of what is causing the delay and when to expect the copy of your notes.

Freedom of Information Request - under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI)

Alternatively, you may access your medical records under a Freedom of Information request.

This request must be made in writing with clear reference to the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

You should specify how you wish to access the information, usually a copy of the record will suffice.

Again you should provide the following:

•Your name at the time of your care
•Your date of birth
•Your baby’s name and date of birth if requesting their records (these are separate and will not routinely be sent with yours)
•Your current address and contact number
•Photocopy of government issued identification (usually a passport or driving license)

You should complete a Freedom of Information request form along with your application. That form can be found here:

https://healthservice.hse.ie/documents/8439/HSE-FOI-request-form.pdf

You do NOT have to give reason for requesting your record.

You should receive confirmation of your request within 10 working days of the receipt of the application which should outline any process and time expectation. Normally the request is then processed within 20 working days.

Your FOI request form should be sent directly to the hospital at which you received your care.

Data Subject Access Request - under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)and the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018

Finally you can make a request under Data Protection.

This request must be made in writing with clear reference to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protectection Acts 1988-2018.

Again you should provide the following:

•Your name at the time of your care
•Your date of birth
•Your baby’s name and date of birth if requesting their records (these are separate and will not routinely be sent with yours)
•Your current address and contact number
•Photocopy of government issued identification

You should specify how you wish to access the information, usually a copy of the record will suffice.

You should complete a Subject Access Request Form (SARS form) along with your application and send it directly to the hospital at which you received your care.

SARS forms can be found here:

https://assets.hse.ie/media/documents/sarsform.pdf

For more information on accessing your hospital notes:

You can visit the Citizen’s Advice Bureau here:

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/legal-matters-and-health/access-to-medical-records/

Or the HSE Data Protection page here:

https://healthservice.hse.ie/staff/procedures-guidelines/data-protection/