How long will MSD take to give me my records?

What might affect how long it takes to get records

How long it takes will depend on: 

• how many requests for records Historic Claims has at that time
• what kind of records they are 
• how large the records are and  
• how much Historic Claims needs to redact from the records. 

Redaction is when information is removed or hidden from your records before you can access them. For example, by covering it with a grey box, with the reason for the redaction in red text. Learn more about redactions. Historic Claims says they complete most records requests within 4 months. But if the records are very big, it might take longer. 

You may be able to get your records more quickly 

Historic Claim can prioritise an urgent request for records if: 

• you are at high risk of death 
• you are at high risk of suicide 
• there is pending litigation (an ongoing court case related to your claim). 

If it will take a long time because there are a lot of records you could ask Historic Claims to send you: 

• some of the records at a time, as they become available 
• specific records rather than all of them.