When I'm moved within England I got a hard copy of all my hospital notes, reports,and  operation notes. You can also get copies of MRI scans and CTs . You have to pay but it was well worth it for me as I could take the whole huge bundle with me as transfer of records took forever- months!! 

I was on surveillance not active treatment when i moved so I can only say that having my records stopped a delay with my next colonoscopy. 

It's also very important to register with a GP ASAP as everything seems to start there and also a good idea to have those hard copies with you as backup.

Awesome thank you that’s extremely helpful!!

Fab, you would think it would be one centralised digital system, and something someone could do with the click of a button.

Again thank you for the wonderful advice it’s is much appreciated 

This is my line of work for NSS [National Services of Scotland]

NHS England and Wales is separate from NHS Scotland. Meaning, when you register at a new GP practice in Scotland, it takes a bit more time for your new practice to receive English GP records because our systems are completely separate. Hospital records and GP records tend to be separate regardless of where you're from, but they're easier to transfer information from England to England, rather from England to Scotland and vice versa. The new treating hospital will request previous records, but it will take a little bit longer. But it should all be done via the hospitals etc

Forgot to add, your mum will have an NHS number, she'll need and be given a CHI number because Scotland doesn't use NHS numbers.

You're very welcome. Apparently different hospital trusts don't share the same IT systems - good grief !  GP Systems rely on email from the hospital. At my grand old age of 68 I dispare lol. And dont get me started on hospitals sharing records  

If I hadn't had a hard copy of my hospital and GP records I'd have waited forever. GP records took 3 months and then only a summary. Hospital here still 9 years later doesn't have everything only what I provided as hard Copy, and they scanned the info in

I share your frustration, we are at the very start of this journey and I’m already frustrated with the lack of joined up thinking.  I’ve been bouncing between GP, private clinics, consultants now to a hospital - 4 weeks of trying to expedite getting my mum a diagnosis and that’s me doing MRI and PET CT scan privately.

i work in tech n it’s so obvious how things could be more efficient.

we now need a biopsy done but my mum is really struggling she’s losing mobility in her arms and hands and I want to bring her home but I’ve been advised to get the biopsy in England then do the transfer 

Thank for sharing this knowledge with me, I genuinely really appreciate it.  So would the CHI number be issued from her new practice in Scotland?  Some of this appears like a silly question what is CHI an abbreviation of?

im trying hard to support my mum from Scotland but its not easy she’s incredibly fragile at the moment both mentally and physically.

Sorry just Google it 

community health index 

Yeah, it's just a fancy term for an NHS number. Usually things tend to be quick when doing it within the same nation because the systems are all connected, and everything about you can be found just by putting your CHI/NHS number in the system. But you can't do that with Scotland and England. When you work in the admin side of the NHS, you quickly learn there is absolutely nothing "national" about the National health service. It can even differ greatly between postcodes, as some people find out too. It was one of the services that were fully devolved to Scotland, and that's the reason for it.

Other have said it took them months. The number one reason it can take months is because when we request stuff from an English health board, they send it up via a disc. We can't access that data, so we have to put in a new request, and this can repeat a few times. It's a joke really. I'm sure the English have the same issues with us doing the same.

Difficult times. Seems like it might make sense to get biopsy done and histology report as quickly as poss and where she is likely to be quicker as a transfer will lose some time. 

 Good luck . Your mum is lucky to have you. 

Difficult times. Seems like it might make sense to get biopsy done and histology report as quickly as poss and where she is likely to be quicker as a transfer will lose some time. 

 Good luck . Your mum is lucky to have you.