Subject Access Requests

You have a right as a service user to request a copy of the information we hold about you under the General Data Protection Regulation, and this is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR).

Medical Records SARs should be made to our Medical Records Manager. This can be verbally or in writing, but in the interests of keeping service user information confidential you may be asked to provide proof of your identity before your information is released, so you may still need to write to us with these documents. Should a 3rd party apply to access records, we will require evidence of either your consent or other legal basis to access your records.

Download our application for access to health records form.

Although completing and returning our application to health records form is not compulsory when making a SAR, it can help us to ensure we have a clear understanding of your request and enable us to deal with it quickly and efficiently.

Visit our how we use information about you page for more details of how we use service user information.

If you are NOT a service user but wish to make a Subject Access Request for your personal data held by other departments, please contact our Information Governance Team, who will direct your request to the appropriate department. Please give us as much information as possible to help us direct your query to the right department.

E-Mail: informationgovernance.lypft@nhs.net

Where should you send your SAR?

SARs must be sent in writing as follows:

*Please note that internet email is not necessarily a secure means of communication and if you choose to contact us in this way you will be accepting that risk.

How long will it take to receive your information?

Once we have received your application we will endeavour to process it as soon as possible and are legally obliged to do so within 30 days.

We will contact you if anything delays this process.

Will the entire contents of my health record be released to me?

In general, all the personal records you request will be released to you, although there may be circumstances where some information is withheld.

These include where it is considered that information in the records, if released, could cause serious harm to you or anyone else and where there is personal information concerning another person contained within the records requested, other than those acting in a professional capacity regarding your care.

How do we provide information requested through a SAR?

We usually make copies of the records and send them to you (or you can collect them if you prefer).

Alternatively, you may wish simply to view the records, in which case we will arrange with you a suitable time and location for you to come along and do that.

It may also be possible to email the records to you if this is something you would specifically prefer, however you must accept the risks of unsecured email transmission.

Does our Trust charge for access to health records?

The General Data Protection Regulation only permits charges to be made when a request is deemed to be manifestly unfounded or excessive. Any charge will be limited to the recovery of reasonable costs – e.g. printing / copying charges at standard retail rates and postage. If there is to be a charge we will always inform you in advance and require payment before processing the request.

Our aim however will always be to provide a free SAR service, and to work with requestors to manage requests in a reasonable way.

What can you do if you're not happy with our response?

If you are unhappy with the information we have provided in response to your SAR, you should write to our Trust’s Complaints department in the first instance.

You can contact our Complaints Team in the following ways:

To complain through the post, please write to:

Complaints and Claims Manager
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Trust Headquarters
St Mary’s House, Main House
St Mary’s Road
Leeds
LS7 3JX

to make a complaint over the telephone, please call our Complaints Team on 0113 855 5955.

to make a complaint by email please download our complaint form, complete the details of your complaint, save it and send the form to lypft@nhs.net.

Find out more about making a complaint to our Trust

If you remain dissatisfied with our Trust’s response you can contact the Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO), the body with responsibility for enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation in England.

You can write to the ICO at the following address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Or you may wish to access the ICO’s website at ico.org.uk.