§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the(a) highest, average and lowest lump sum administration charges and (b) highest, average and lowest photocopying charges per sheet charged by NHS trusts administering general hospitals for access to medical records; and if he will make a statement. [43288]
§ Mr. MilburnThe information requested is not held centrally and could be collected only at a disproportionate cost. However, the 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 only be determined by the specific organisation involved. Recommending a charge greater than the actual cost in 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.