§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what legislation is in place to safeguard(a) hospital medical records and (b) administrative hospital records; what provisions are made to send them to a central depository or local archives; what differences there are for NHS trusts; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleMedical and administrative records of national health service authorities, hospitals and trusts in England and Wales are covered by the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967. The safe keeping and archiving of these records is the responsibility of individual NHS bodies, under the guidance of the Public Record Office. Advice on this was given to the NHS in health circular HC(89)20, a copy of which will be placed in the Library.
Hospital records selected for permanent preservation are kept in places of deposit appointed by the Keeper of Public Records on behalf of the Lord Chancellor under section 4(1) of the Public Records Act 1958, the great majority of which are local authority record offices.