[paul cotter]

That is a bizarre constellation of symptoms. I can't see any anaesthetic being responsible and I don't see the remotest connection with diabetes. I would reckon some other factor is responsible. Again I emphasise what has previously been said-an internet forum is not the place for medical advice. I would suggest you do some doctor shopping until you find a sympathetic and understanding practitioner-this may require multiple consultations until you find one that takes you seriously and is competent with complex cases. As regards your problems with the NHS, I can't comment as I live in Ireland.

[alancalverd]

As with the Post Office, the only route to getting anything done seems to be to involve your Member of Parliament and/or a journalist - these are my recommendations to my own clients who have been wronged by authority. The case of the missing MDT record suggests individual malfeasance or a serious flaw in the NHS records system, either of which would be grist to the mill of an MP or investigative scribe.

Apropos your symptoms, I don't see anything there that suggests diabetes, however fashionable that diagnosis might be this year. Much more like vestibular or auditory nerve malfunction.

If you can't get any help from your GP, you might actually get some insight from Specsavers - not a pun, nor a joke. If they can't identify a problem with hearing/balance/vision, they will know someone who can.  I just heard from a client whose 7-year-old daughter developed a squint. Local optician didn't like what he saw, so referred her to an NHS ophthalmic clinic who determined that she had a brain tumor that was treated by proton beam radiotherapy and saved her life.

[vhfpmr (OP)]

I would suggest you do some doctor shopping

In 2016 I had a report on a series of ECGs from a very helpful professor in London which proved that the NHS were lying, without any shopping around at all, so when I was facing an unnecessary anaesthetic for a cystoscopy that I didn't need I tried the same again. This time I went all round the private sector and just got told to go to the NHS or that I needed a referral from the NHS. They've been warned off for pulling the rug out from under the NHS's feet.

As regards your problems with the NHS, I can't comment as I live in Ireland.

Most countries have the same issues. It isn't really about medics even, as the Post Office scandal shows, it's just human nature. If you'd been there yourself you'd know.

involve your Member of Parliament

I assume you're unaware that MPs have no power over the PHSO then? The ombudsman is ostensibly there to police the MPs, so you can't have the PHSO and MPs each policing the other. The PACAC Committee supposedly oversees the PHSO, but they don't actually do anything beyond a token meeting once a year. When I wrote to my MP I got no reply, and the stock line from the PACAC Chair is that they don't get involved in individual cases. I've been going at this for eight years, just how much is there that you think I (and all the others in a similar position) haven't already done in that time? I know someone who has been going at this for over 20 years, spent north of ?100k on legal fees, had coverage on national TV, and still got nowhere. Have you ever heard the term 'duty of candour'? That was his doing, but it still hasn't got any of us anywhere. Like I said, even Scotland Yard were thwarted. Nothing came of the Gosport Inquiry, even though Nurse Spilka testified that they were euthanising patients just because they were regarded as "difficult". I've lost count of the times I've seen that in my records. I've been told I'm "notoriously difficult" to my face.

The case of the missing MDT record suggests individual malfeasance or a serious flaw in the NHS records system

The main issue behind my complaint in 2015 was the denial of my heart arrhythmia, I just mentioned the MDT report because you seemed to think that records are there just for the asking, and because I had a scan of that ICO letter to hand. You don't get given anything they don't want you to have. Even the ombudsman has publicly panned the NHS for forging records. I can see where mine have been forged.

Much more like vestibular or auditory nerve malfunction.

The neurologist who told me that it can't be a brain problem because I get 'headaches' (his word, not mine) sent me to ENT. They said it can't be an ear problem. He sent me to physiotherapy twice. They rejected me twice. Second time I saw him he referred me to an ophthalmologist. She said it's not an eye problem.

you might actually get some insight from Specsavers

I've been to the opticians twice, the second time to ask for a referral to a neuro-ophthalmologist, but she refused and told me to go to the NHS.

I had an appointment with an orthoptist last month, she found that the muscles controlling my left eye aren't working properly. They're controlled by the brain aren't they? The left eye is sluggish, and won't swivel as fast as the right eye, which seems to me to be a pretty good explanation why I find it difficult to judge speed and distance of moving objects, and why I sometimes feel put off balance or want to vomit at the sight of unexpected movement.

In 2021 the neurologist told me that my brain MRI was normal, but that's not what the records say, they mention a brain condition that has symptoms remarkably similar to the ones I'm getting. I had a second MRI in 2022, and after that they put an entry on my records saying that they'd found something "major" but denying me access to it. In the 16 months since then they haven't told me what it's about, and I've been discharged by the neurologist. I asked in writing last year, by recorded delivery, but they didn't answer. I asked the practice manager and got "MRI? What MRI? We don't know anything about any MRI". Since then I've been told that the second MRI was also normal, and that the "Major" entry on my record was a "mistake".

I've just had a letter saying that a new referral back to neurology has been sent for 'review' first before they decide whether they're going to give me an appointment or not.

[alancalverd]

You have an absolute right under GDPR to see your medical records.

[vhfpmr (OP)]

You have an absolute right under GDPR to see your medical records.

No you don't.

GDPR devolves health record access to the pre-existing Access to Health Records Act, read it and you'll see that the latest amendment to take account of GDPR is dated 25.5.18, the day that GDPR came into force.

If you read the legislation you will find that Section 5 states that records can be withheld if releasing them would cause 'serious harm' to anyone (including a doctor or a third party, and not just the patient), and that the arbiters of what is harmful are the doctors (whose reason may or may not be legitimate). Neither the patient nor their solicitor are allowed to know this reason, so even if you exercise your right to take it to court, you have no means of arguing your case. Never mind that most patients won't have thousands to spend on legal fees each time they need to access their records.

This was also confirmed to me by a lawyer at Mishcon de Reya who specialises in medical records.

Finally, the NHS don't need to use any of this anyway, all they have to do is deny that the records exist, and then you can't complain that you haven't been given them. The same applies to correspondence, if they reply you have something to challenge, and evidence to show others, much better to just ignore it, then you have no proof they didn't answer.