§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions the medical records of a member of the armed services have been declared lost in each year since 1992. [151811]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Ministry of Defence does not maintain a central list of lost records. Duplicates of some of the documents contained in Service personnel personal medical folders are held centrally and over the last four years 3,722 requests have been made for copies of these records. Of this total, 95 records could not be traced. In addition, hospital records are forwarded to a central repository, which over the last five years has been unable to trace 429 records from 7,227 requests made. Requests for duplicate copies of medical records do not necessarily indicate that the originals are lost: they may be held in another location or an additional copy may be needed.