Subject Access Request for Medical Records in Wales: How to Get Your Parent's Clinical Files
Why You Need the Clinical Records
Medical records are the foundation of any NHS Continuing Healthcare claim, care funding appeal, or dispute with a local authority or Local Health Board. Without them, you are arguing from memory against organisations that have the documentation.
For a CHC assessment, you need to demonstrate that your parent's primary need is health-related — and the evidence for that lives in daily care logs, hospital discharge summaries, GP notes, community nursing records, and medication charts. These documents show the actual clinical interventions being delivered, their frequency, and the complexity involved.
For a care funding dispute, the records reveal whether the local authority or LHB followed its own statutory procedures. Did the multidisciplinary team actually complete the Decision Support Tool? Was your parent screened using the CHC Checklist before being charged for social care? Was the financial assessment calculated correctly?
How to Submit a Subject Access Request
Under UK GDPR, your parent has the right to request a copy of all personal data held about them by any organisation. If your parent lacks mental capacity, an attorney acting under a registered Property and Financial Affairs LPA or a Court of Protection deputy can submit the request on their behalf.
The request is free. Send it in writing — email is fine — to each organisation that holds relevant records. Typically this means the GP surgery, any hospital that treated or discharged your parent, the current care home, and any previous care providers.
State clearly that you are making a Subject Access Request under Article 15 of UK GDPR. Specify what records you want: GP consultation notes, hospital discharge summaries, daily care logs, medication administration records, clinical assessments, and any correspondence about your parent's care or funding. Include your parent's full name, date of birth, and NHS number.
Each organisation has a statutory 30-day window to respond. If they fail to comply within 30 days, follow up in writing referencing the deadline. If they still do not comply, you can report the breach to the Information Commissioner's Office.
What to Request From Each Organisation
GP surgery: Consultation notes covering the period of cognitive decline, referral letters to memory services, any cognitive assessment scores, Read-coded entries, and medication history.
Hospital: Discharge summaries, nursing assessments, the D2RA pathway assignment, any referral to community services, and clinical observations during the admission.
Care home: Daily care logs (these are the most granular records — they document every personal care intervention, behavioural incident, meal, and medication round), care plans, risk assessments, and any reviews conducted by visiting clinical staff.
Local Health Board: Any CHC Checklist screening, Decision Support Tool assessment, eligibility decision letters, and internal correspondence about your parent's case.
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How to Use the Records
Once you have the records, read the daily care logs first. These are the documents that most clearly demonstrate the nature, intensity, complexity, and unpredictability of your parent's needs — the four indicators used to determine a primary health need under the Welsh CHC framework.
Highlight entries that show clinical interventions (medication management, wound care, continence management, behavioural de-escalation), their frequency, and any incidents that required nursing judgment. A week of daily care logs showing eight medication rounds, three behavioural incidents requiring trained intervention, and two continence changes per night is stronger evidence than any narrative summary.
If you are preparing for a CHC assessment, map the evidence from the daily logs against each of the 12 Decision Support Tool domains. The Wales Dementia Care Guide includes a CHC evidence-mapping grid designed for exactly this purpose — structured prompts for each domain that help you translate raw care records into the language the MDT assessment uses.
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Download the Wales — Dementia Support Checklist — a printable guide with checklists, scripts, and action plans you can start using today.