§ Mr. FatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it possible for those who volunteered to participate in experiments at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down to have access to their medical records; and if he will make a statement. [27825]
§ Mr. SoamesService medical records are the property of the Department but, in common with civilian medical records, individual access to them by the patient concerned is allowed in accordance with the Access to Health Records Act 1990. Under the provisions of this Act, medical records are normally released to the individual concerned only if they were compiled after 1 November 1991. However, for service medical records of former personnel compiled before this date, it has long been my Department's policy to release them on request to the individual's general practitioner when they are required for the management of a particular case. It has also been standard practice for many years to include with the volunteer's service medical record an enclosure indicating the results of medical examinations carried out during their attendance at Porton Down.