§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he will assess the advantages of recommending a reasonable level of photocopy charges to be paid by patients seeking access to their records under the Access to Health Records Act 1990; and if he will make a statement. [27827]
§ Mr. MilburnThe Access to Health Records Act 1990 requires that charges should not exceed the cost of making a copy and posting it, and guidance to National Health Service organisations has made it quite clear that the actual cost is the maximum that should be charged. The actual cost will differ from case to case and can be determined only by the specific organisation involved. Recommending a charge greater than the actual cost in 191W any particular case would contravene the requirements of the Act, and recommending charges consistently lower than actual costs would increase NHS costs. Therefore, the responsibility for determining reasonable charges must remain with individual organisations.