Experiences of retired doctors-as-patients accessing their own medical records

Doctors-as-patients may have a different attitude to patient access to records than doctors-as-doctors – we don't know, so we want to find out. Doctors-as-patients may also have a different experience of wanting to (or being able to) obtain information from their medical record than non-doctors-as-patients. Again, we don’t know so we want to find out.

We aim to explore the experiences of retired doctors (as patients) in accessing their medical records in the UK and Spain and compare this with practising GPs' views on patient access to records in the UK. This survey will help us understand potential differences between the two countries and contribute to the discussion on the benefits of routine access to medical records.

We aim to explore the experiences and views of retired doctors in the UK and Spain on their access to their own medical records.

Participants need to be 60 or over, have (had) a qualification as a doctor, have had contact with health care providers in either the UK or Spain at least once in the last year, and have retired from full-time clinical practice. People who still work in some other capacity (e.g. administration, research or teaching while retired from clinical practice) will be included. The survey is anonymous and has ethical approval from the Faculty of Health ethics committee. Two versions of the survey exist, one in English and one in Spanish.