Access to the health and care records of deceased people

This guidance provides advice on access to health and care records following the death of an individual.

Guidance for patients and service users

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Access to the health and care records of deceased people guidance for patients and service users

This guidance provides advice on access to health and care records following the death of an individual.

Guidance for health and care professionals

ARTICLE

Access to the health and care records of deceased people guidance for health and care professionals

This guidance provides advice on access to health and care records following the death of an individual.

Guidance for IG professionals

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Access to the health and care records of deceased people guidance for information governance (IG) professionals

Information governance advice on the access to health and care records following the death of an individual.

These IG pages provide clear and consistent IG advice and guidance to patients and service users, health and care staff and IG professionals. NHS England convenes a working group to check and challenge the guidance.

Updates since original publication

First published September 2022

Updated 28 August 2026

IG professionals section:

'Time limit for responding to a request' section simplified and corrected to make clear that records that were created, added to or amended within the previous 40 days are subject to a shorter response deadline under AHRA

Updated October 2025

IG professionals section:

updated information on medical examiners' access to health and care records

Updated November 2024

Health and care professionals section:

added advice on the right of access for social care records

IG professionals section:

added information on medical examiners and the changes in the Access to Health Records Act 1990
updated the public interest disclosures section for clarity

Last edited: 2 September 2026 8:26 am