After being treated like a naughty five-year-old for daring to question my vet's choice of Rimadyl, I am in the process of changing to another practice.
But I need to know whether some x-rays taken a few weeks ago are my property - can I insist on the vet handing them over ? I'd like to avoid anaesthesia again at the new vets, and of course the expense !

Thanks
Joyce

My vets refused to give me x rays of one of my dogs. I needed to show them to my boss. In the end they very grudgingly let me 'borrow' them for a few hours providing I took them STRAIGHT BACK!!! They certainly charge enough for them!!

I was cross with the vets for not letting me have the hip xrays once they were scored. what use are they to them? A friend with a very good relationship with her country vet always gets the xrays back and only pays half of what I do in the first place. after being charged £54 pounds for the xrays, and a totla of over £150 altogether for the last one that was scored, I object to not being allowed to have them for my own interest, as I have paid for them!!!!

Hi Joyce, I have just had the same problem when I changed my vet last year .To cut a long story short, I had to get in touch with the RCVS & this is what they told me "providing you have paid for them, under the data protection act THE VET HAS TO HAND THEM OVER", end of story & if he didn`t I could make a complaint. Get in touch with them, they were very helpful to me.
Unfortunately I am in dispute with my old vet & we only talk thru lawyers now( he told us to)!! Anyway when this info was sent to him he got in touch with me & has said of course I can have them & he now wants us to be friends. So yes DEMAND they be handed over & quote the above.
Christine2

Thank you for that Christine. When I asked for the x-rays of my dog, so that I could send them to europe, he refused on the grounds that they were not my 'property' but his! I must admit that it didn't occur to me to approach the RCVS as I 'assumed' that I would get the same response.

Many thanks, Christine, this was very helpful both to myself and it seems, Lara, as well. It's good to have this kind of info as back-up in case of any resistance.

Joyce

My vet gives me a copy of any X-Rays they take of any of my dogs don't even have to ask they're just there when I pick the dog up.

For those of you who want to use the Data Protection Act of 1998 it's really effective and very easy to do. I have just got copies of all my medical records from 1995 to the present day within 48 hrs of my putting in the request in writing, total cost was £15. The maximum they can charge is £50 for health and educational data but everything else the legal limit is £10 which must be paid upfront when you submit the request. There is also a time limit of 40 days by which they have to comply.

Hi Schip

Did you know that you can use the Data Protection Act to also look at any personal files your employees hold on your behalf?? We had a course on it a while ago (work for a trust company) and a guy went for about 10 interviews and kept getting turned down, and it transpires that on his personal file he had been off work with some illness and when prospective employees wrote to his firm for the reference, they misspelt the name of the illness and apparently put down some terminal illness that he never had., he in the end requested a look at his personal file throught the Data Protection Act and found this out...

I think a handy piece of information to know about, if you ever get into that situation..

Natasha :D

Hi Crazy cockers

Yes you can use the data protection to get copies of video footage off CCTV systems in the street or stores anywhere they are used. You can also get copies of all correspondence and verbal oppinions expressed about you within your workplace or dentists, doctors etc.

Who and wherever information is stored about you the data protection act covers it. I used the template letter that is available via the Mark Thomas program on Channel 4 just downloaded it off his site and did a bit of adjusting for my purposes and away I went.

Hi Joyce

When you leave one practice to go to another, you should ask for all your veterinary records to be transferred to that practice. It is an obligation of your current practice to pass over your records (I used to be a veterinary nurse). I actually left a practice, and wrote to them asking them to transfer my records over and I didn't have a problem (although this particular vet does not speak to me know !!).

HTH

Natasha :D

I was going to suggest the same thing. It is their professional obligation to do that.

Carissa

Thanks for all responses. I now know that my 'difficult' vet has no grounds to refuse transferring all the records.

Joyce

When we moved from Scotland to the south coast of England we told the new vet that we registered with the name of our old practice in Dundee. By the time we made it to our appointment a week later they already had ALL of our details on their computer - just transferred straight from the other vets! We didn't sign anything or do anything to set the ball rolling other than register with the new practice.

I was honestly impressed. Not only that, but when we came in for the session he was already aware of Chelsea's history with lumpectomy's etc. Something even our old vet practice never remembered. It was obvious he'd taken an interest in the history so he could be well versed for anything we might ask.

I find they are always like that even now - over a year later. I have never been so happy with a practice before.

The other day I was in there and they had obviously been treating a dog who's owners were visiting the area. Without being asked he walked up to them as they were paying and handed them a packet which was a printout of all their info so they could give it to their own vet. They were pleasantly surprised as they thought they'd have to have their vets phone this one.

THIS is the kind of service we should be getting from our vets!

Wendy

I recently changed vets due to them messing up a spay on one of my dogs. The vets refused point blank for me to see the notes for the emergency operation Georgia had. I will try again this week to get copies.

Hi Nicolla

I would threaten them with the Data Protection Act, and say that if they don't pass them on then you will going through the appropriate legal channels to get your files.

They can not refuse to let you have the information they have stored in your name, through the Data Protection Act..sounds like they are being difficult because you are moving practices.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Regards

Natasha :D

Hi everyone, glad the data protection act is out in the open. Hope it helps you all. Also if any of you have probs with your vet dont forget to get in touch with the RCVS, I found them very helpful & they are on the net.
Schip you seem to have a really good vet, so do a couple of others & its a shame there aren`t more about!
Christine2

Certainly do Christine the Leonards were part of the practise until they jumped ship and opened their own a while back lol.#

My only worry now is when I move to a new area how the hell do I replace them? Can you imagine the sort of interview they'd have to go thru to prove to me they would care for my animals as well as these do now lol?