Keeping your treatment records for life

Because a doctor you meet years from now may need to know exactly what treatment you had, and the hospital that treated you may not be able to provide it quickly, or at all. Cancer treatment can have effects that appear a decade or more later, and many future medical decisions depend on your treatment history. A cardiologist assessing breathlessness needs to know whether you received anthracyclines or chest radiotherapy. A doctor planning surgery needs to know about previous treatments that affect the heart, lungs or blood clotting. An oncologist treating a new cancer needs to know total amounts of earlier medicines. A gynaecologist or fertility specialist needs to know which medicines might have affected fertility. Emergency doctors treating you far from home can act more safely with a clear summary.

Hospitals change record systems, merge or close, and paper files may be archived or destroyed after a period. You may move to another city or country, change insurance, or see doctors in different health systems. Relying on memory is unreliable, especially for medicine names and total amounts. For childhood cancer survivors, who may need to share their history with doctors for the rest of their lives, parents often held the information, and young adults may not know the details of their own treatment at all.

The good news is that keeping records is simple. The most useful document is a treatment summary or survivorship care plan listing your diagnosis, medicines and total amounts, radiotherapy areas, surgery, complications and follow-up needs. Alongside it, keep discharge summaries, key scan and pathology reports, and letters from specialists. Store paper copies safely, keep digital copies in a secure place, and share them with a trusted family member. This page explains what to keep and why; your hospital can help you obtain the documents.

The summary is the most important document

A one or two page overview that any doctor can read quickly.

Keep paper and digital copies

Protects against loss, damage or system changes.

Share with someone you trust

A family member can provide records if you cannot.

It cannot tell you what is in your records or obtain them for you. Your treating hospital holds these, and you have the right to request copies.

It also cannot advise on legal record-keeping rules for hospitals, which vary.

How to request your records

Contact the medical records department of the hospital where you were treated. You may need to fill in a form, show identification and pay a small fee. Ask specifically for chemotherapy charts showing medicine names and amounts, radiotherapy summaries, discharge summaries, pathology reports and key scan reports.

Storing records safely

Keep paper copies in a labelled folder, protected from damp and pests. Scan or photograph them and store digital copies securely, such as in a password-protected folder, email account or government health records system where available. Back up digital copies.

A one-page summary for your wallet

A short card or note with your cancer type, main treatments, allergies and an emergency contact is useful to carry, especially when travelling.

Childhood survivors

Parents should keep detailed records and hand them to their child as an adult, explaining what they mean. Young adults should know their own treatment history.

Digital health records

Government digital health initiatives may allow records to be linked to a health ID. These can help, but keep your own copies too.

Privacy

Share records only with people and organisations you choose, and be careful when sending them electronically.

Updating your records

Add new specialist letters, test results and any further treatment to your folder over time.

What a good treatment summary looks like

A useful summary fits on one or two pages and includes your name, date of birth, cancer type and features, date of diagnosis, each treatment with medicine names and total amounts, radiotherapy areas, surgeries with dates, significant complications, allergies, the name of your treating oncologist and hospital, and recommended long-term checks.

Records when you change doctors

When you see a new doctor, offer your summary at the first visit. Ask them to add your cancer history to their records so it is not forgotten at later appointments.

Records for insurance and legal needs

Insurers, employers or government schemes may ask for medical reports. Keeping organised records makes these requests easier and reduces delays.

Organising your folder

Arrange documents by date, with the treatment summary at the front. Add a contents page listing each document, and highlight key details such as medicine names and allergies.

Keeping records for elderly relatives

If you care for an older family member who had cancer, keep their records together and bring them to appointments, as they may not remember treatment details.

What to do if records are lost

If records are lost, contact the treating hospital as soon as possible. Your family doctor, pharmacy or insurance claims may also hold partial information that can help rebuild a summary.

Records and second opinions

Well-organised records make second opinions faster and more accurate.

Records in more than one language

If your records are in English and family members read Telugu or Hindi, a short translated note of key points, such as cancer type, main treatments and allergies, can help them assist in emergencies.

Photographing prescriptions

Photograph each new prescription and file it with your records so medicine changes are easy to track.

What to do next

Ask for a treatment summary, request key documents from your hospital, store paper and digital copies safely, carry a short summary card, share records with a trusted person, and update them over time.