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Your health records: the slides.

A 14-slide deck with speaker notes, for a 60-minute session. Present it from this page, or print it to PDF with one slide per page. The run sheet says when to show each slide.

While presenting: → or Space next, ← back, Home and End, S speaker notes, F full screen, Esc to stop.

Moraph for Good · Reach

Your health records

A Reach session from Moraph for Good

A free session kit · moraph.org/commons/sessions/reach/your-health-records

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Speaker notes

Welcome everyone. Introduce yourself and say this is a one-hour session on getting and looking after your own health records.

Before we start

How today works

  • General information, not medical or legal advice
  • Nobody will be asked about their own health
  • Questions welcome at any time
  • Take-home handout with the rules for where you live

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Speaker notes

Set the tone. If someone starts sharing personal health details, gently thank them and steer back to the process.

What’s in a record

A health record is more than one document

  • Visit notes, conditions and allergies
  • Medicines and vaccinations
  • Test results, scans and letters
  • Contact, insurance and billing details

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Speaker notes

Ask the room what else they think is in there. Keep it general.

Who holds it

Every place you have had care keeps its own records.

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Speaker notes

Family doctor, hospital, specialist, pharmacy, lab, dentist. If you want a full picture, you may need to ask more than one place.

Your right

In many countries you can see and copy your records

  • The right usually covers paper and electronic records
  • You can often ask for all of it or just some parts
  • You may be asked to prove who you are
  • The rules on cost and timing depend on where you live

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Speaker notes

Point to the country block on the handout for the exact rules. Don’t quote figures from memory.

How to ask

Four steps to a request

  • Check the portal first: some records may already be there
  • Find out how the provider takes requests: form, email, letter or in person
  • Say what you want, for which dates, and in what format
  • Keep a copy and note the date you sent it

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Speaker notes

A screenshot or photo of the request is enough as a record. Note who you spoke to if it was by phone or in person.

What to expect

After you ask

  • An identity check, especially for health information
  • A question about cost before they start, if there is one
  • A reply within the time the law allows where you live
  • A written reason if they refuse any part

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Speaker notes

Explain that providers can sometimes hold back parts of a record, for example to protect someone else, but should tell you why.

Activity

Try it: write a practice request

  1. Turn to exercise 1 on your worksheet
  2. Decide what you would ask for and which dates
  3. Fill in the template: who, what, how and your contact details
  4. Real or practice details: your choice

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Speaker notes

Give five minutes for each part. Walk around and help with wording only.

Pairs, if you like

Check each other’s wording

  • Is it clear what is being asked for?
  • Are the dates and format there?
  • Does it say how to reply?
  • Swap wording only, not personal details

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Speaker notes

Pairs are optional. Anyone can do this check on their own.

Check it

Look for mistakes that matter

  • Medicines, allergies and conditions
  • Contact and emergency contact details
  • Tests or visits you didn’t have, or that are missing
  • Ask in writing for a correction, with a copy of the page

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Speaker notes

If the provider disagrees, people can usually ask for their own statement to be added. The country block says who to complain to.

Keep it safe

Your copy is yours to protect

  • Store paper copies somewhere private
  • Use a strong, unique password for any account that holds records
  • Think before emailing or sharing records
  • Sign out and close the browser on a shared computer

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Speaker notes

Don’t recommend any app or storage service. The point is the habit, not the product.

A useful habit

Keep a one-page summary of your medicines, allergies and conditions.

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Speaker notes

Worksheet exercise 3 is a checklist for this. It helps when changing doctors, travelling or in an emergency.

Where you live

Your handout has the local rules

  • Your rights and the time limits
  • What it may cost
  • Where to complain if a request is ignored
  • Official links to read more

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Speaker notes

Walk people through the country block briefly so they know where to look later.

Thank you

Questions?

  • Ask the clinic or hospital how they take records requests
  • Use the official links on your handout
  • Ask your clinician about anything in your records that worries you

This kit, the worksheet and the handouts: moraph.org/commons/sessions/reach/your-health-records

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Speaker notes

Take questions. Thank the host and the room. Remind people the worksheet is theirs to keep.