Where should health records of the deceased be sent?
Answer When a patient dies, their GP health records are transferred to the relevant Primary Care Trust where they are retained for the recommended retention period before the Records Manager will decide whether to further retain or destroy them. In the case of hospital health records, these remain at the relevant hospital, or may be sent to a local archive for storage where they are retained for the recommended retention period. The Department of Health recommends that GP records are kept for a minimum of 10 years and hospital records are kept for a minimum of 8 years following the end of any treatment, or the patient’s death if the patient died whilst receiving treatment. At the end of that specified time Records Manager at the Trust will decide whether to retain the records further or destroy them.
