Father stages hospital protest against refusal to release daughter’s medical records

Martin Shipton

The father of a teenage mother who previously struggled with her mental health has held a one-man protest after a health board refused to release her medical records.

Scott Del Amo stood outside Llandough Hospital on the morning of March 21 with placards which read: “Medical Negligence UHB Refusing To Hand Over Medical Records” and “Time 4 Hafan Y Coed [the hospital’s mental health unit] Hospital Managers and Psychiatrists To Be Held Accountable “.

In a special report, published in June 2023, Nation.Cymru gave voice to widespread unease held by service users and their families about Hafan y Coed, run by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The article followed a protest outside the hospital undertaken by around 30 relatives of patients.

Anya Del Amo, now 19, was one of two suicidal teenagers featured in our report.

Care review

A review was commissioned into the care provided by Hafan y Coed to Anya after an incident when she was handcuffed. The review identified 30 shortcomings relating to the way she was treated while an in-patient at the unit.

Mr Del Amo requested disclosure of his daughter’s medical records from the time she was in Hafan Y Coed with a view to gathering evidence that could be used in a legal case against the health board. Anya, who now has a baby aged seven months and whose mental health has greatly improved since receiving treatment at another NHS unit in Cambridge, gave her father written permission as her representative to seek access to the medical records.

In a letter to Ms Del Amo, the health board’s information governance manager wrote: “I am writing in relation to the Subject Access Request that you have submitted to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board,

“Your request has been dealt with under Article 15 of the UK GDPR. Firstly I would like to apologise for the delay in processing your request, and take this opportunity to thank you for your patience.

“Having further considered your request, the UHB does not consider that disclosure of the information requested to be in your best interests at present and is therefore unable to consider disclosure at this present time. The UHB can advise that it would be happy to reconsider your request at a later date – in at least six months’ time – should you still wish to receive this information.

“On this matter, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office or another supervisory authority. Additionally, you have the ability to seek to enforce this right through a judicial remedy.”

GDPR

The health board is using a clause in GDPR regulations that allows it to withhold material if a doctor believes it could harm a patient’s mental or physical health if it were released.

After his protest, Mr Del Amo said: “It is totally shocking that they won’t release Anya’s medical records. Anya herself doesn’t want to read them, but wants me to be able to do so.

“The level of care she got in Hafan Y Coed was very poor. As a fragile and vulnerable person she wasn’t properly supervised and had to be admitted to the intensive care unit on multiple occasions after harming herself.

“The ICO is understaffed and takes a long time to respond to cases. Why should I have to hire a solicitor to get justice? I believe the health board is deliberately running down the time available to us to start legal action.”

Ms Del Amo has told us she wants her father to be given access to her medical records.

A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “The health board has sent correspondence to Anya this week with regards to the request for her medical notes.

“If Anya is unhappy with the decision, we would encourage her to contact us directly or she can raise it with the ICO and details have been provided in the letter.”