Patient documents

The information and record of your use of medical services included in your patient documents are confidential. Access to patient documents arises through a treatment relationship or other work task that requires the processing of patient documents. In most situations, the handing over of patient documents to another health care unit is based either on the Client Data Act or the Health Care Act.

It is recommended that consents or prohibitions on disclosure concerning your patient data be made on the My Kanta pages. A consent or refusal to disclose information associated with the Kanta Services can also be made on site in your nearest healthcare unit, such as your local health center.

In the case of a healthcare provider that has not joined the patient data archive (Kanta Services), you can give your consent or refusal for disclosure or acquisition of your own or your dependent’s patient data using the form below.

If you want to know who has recorded or accessed your patient data, you have the right to receive the patient register log data related to your patient data for the last two years using the Patient Register Log Information Request form or a free-form request.

If you suspect that your data has been processed without a basis, you can request a written explanation using the Request for Clarification on the Processing of Patient Data form. You can also request a written clarification using a free-form request. Whichever way you will use, record the grounds and the information you already know as a basis for requesting clarification. A request for clarification may also be made by a guardian or other legal representative.

A request for clarification may also be made by a guardian or other legal representative. If an adult is unable to make decisions on their treatment, case-specific consideration shall be given to granting the right to the next of kin or another legal representative to inspect the patient register’s log data. In addition, the guardian of a minor child does also not automatically have the right to access the child's log data, but the request for log data of a child between the age of 12 to 17 must, as a rule, be submitted by the child themselves. 

NOTE! If your request for clarification concerns the data displayed on the My Kanta pages or the disclosure of your patient data, the investigation will be quicker, if you can attach screenshots of the My Kanta sections for which you are requiring clarification in your request. This is because My Kanta is the patient’s personal view, to which HUS does not have access and, thus, does not have the opportunity to check how the information is displayed on the My Kanta pages.

Your rights regarding patient records are defined in these laws and regulations: 
Decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on Patient Documents (94/2022)
Act on the Electronic Processing of Client Data in Social and Health Care Services
Act on the Status and Rights of Patients (785/1992)

You can view and print out your own patient data from the My Kanta pages, where you have access to your own data. My Kanta contains HUS’s medical records starting from autumn 2014.

You can also request your patient data electronically from the HUS information service. Register as a Suomi.fi Messages service user and then fill in an electronic patient document request. In the electronic service, you can only order your own patient data.

Electronic patient document request.

In order to expedite the process, it is a good idea to identify the documents to be ordered, the years when treatment was provided, and the hospitals where you know you have received treatment or undergone examinations. We will return an unspecified or unclear patient document request for clarification. 

Alternatively, you can also make a request using a paper form. Print, fill out and post the form to the archives of the hospital in question by following the instructions at the bottom of the form. You can also devise a free-form letter indicating the information required in the form.

Patient data cannot be ordered by phone for data security reasons.

The delivery times of the ordered documents depend on the complexity and scope of the request. In general, documents can be delivered to the client within 5–30 days.

X-rays and other image copies of imaging examinations can be ordered from HUS Medical Imaging Center using the center’s own form. 

If you wish to exercise the right under Article 15 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, please use the form below. Send the signed form by mail to HUS Central Registry.

In HUS, parents are entitled to access the medical records of a patient under the age of 12.

If the guardian requests HUS in writing for the information of a minor aged 12 to 17, the written consent of the minor or a request for information signed by the minor themselves is required for the disclosure of the information.

If a minor between the age of 12 and 17 is able to decide on their treatment, they have the right to refuse disclosure of the information on their state of health and treatment to the guardian or other legal representative. The physician or other professionals will assess the development level of a child or adolescent in issues related to treatment. In addition, the guardian of a minor child does not automatically have the right to access the child's log data, but the request for log data must, as a rule, be submitted by the child themselves. 

If there is any doubt as to the identity of the minor patient’s guardian, the hospital has the right to request proof of custody from the person requesting access to patients records before the information is disclosed. In a case where parents have joint custody of the child and if the child’s official home address is different from the guardian requesting information, a copy of the court’s joint custody decision or a joint custody agreement shall be attached to the information copy request form. Otherwise, the information will be provided addressed to the child to the child's home address in accordance with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s address data.

The personal data in the patient register must be accurate and, if necessary, updated and you have the right to require that any inaccurate and incorrect personal data concerning you be rectified. You can file a demand for rectification using a form or a free-form letter indicating the matters set out in the form. It is essential that you identify as accurately as possible the information that needs to be corrected or erased.

If the request to rectify an error concerns the information displayed on the My Kanta pages or the disclosure of your patient records, the investigation will be quicker if you can attach screenshots or copies of the My Kanta sections for which you are requesting a correction or rectification. This is because My Kanta is the patient’s personal view, which HUS does not have access to and, thus, does not have the opportunity to check how the information is displayed on the My Kanta pages. 

Send the demand for rectification to HUS Central Registry, P.O. Box 200, FI-00029 HUS. 

Patient documents cannot be completely deleted. The preparation of patient records and their use as support for treatment is a task performed pursuant to Finnish legislation. As a rule, the retention period for patient documents is 12 years from the date of death and the retention period is laid down in the Decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

We may only provide information about you to your next of kin with your consent. If providing a consent is not possible, for example, due to your illness, we may provide patient information to your next of kin, unless there is reason to believe that you would prohibit doing so. In such circumstances, we may not provide information on you to any other persons than your next of kin. Another person’s medical records can only be ordered with a paper form or a free-form letter.

The patient records of another adult can only be ordered on a paper form or a free-form letter, see Request for information on behalf of another adult.

You can request patient information on behalf of another adult by using a paper data request form by attaching a power of attorney or other legal document that explains the requesting person’s right to receive the information. For the time being, our electronic patient document request is intended for IT reasons only for requesting your own information.

It is possible to act on behalf of another person in the Kanta Services, see Kela’s web page Services on behalf of the other person.

Patient documents are confidential even after a patient’s death. The deceased person’s patient records may be disclosed only to the extent necessary to clarify or exercise the important interests or rights of the person requesting them. The person requesting the information shall not have the right to unrestricted access to the deceased’s patient records. The request must always state the purpose of use, i.e., the grounds for disclosure.

The request can be made using the form below or a free-form request. Send the signed form by post to the HUS Central Registry at: HUS Central Registry, P.O. Box 200, FI-00029 HUS. 

The patient information system Apotti used by HUS includes the patient portal Maisa, through which you can view your own patient data, for example. Check out the Maisa portal on the Apotti website.

You can also authorize another person to act on your behalf in Maisa after you have registered as a Maisa user. Refer to more details here Maisa – Frequently asked questions.

You can also authorize access to Maisa by another person in connection with your treatment by using the attached power of attorney.

In the Kanta Services, you can act on behalf of another person, such as a child or an elderly person, for example, in matters concerning prescriptions. For more information, see Acting on behalf of another person in the Kela services.

The patient documents sent to the Kanta Services sometimes show purely technical deficiencies. For example, it may be that one of the HUS organization-level codes has been missing from a document sent to Kanta. To do this, repair software has been developed for scanning messages sent to Kanta. The repair software does not in any way touch the contents of patient documents, but if it detects technical deficiencies, it will make automatic corrections. After the technical correction, a new version of the document will be sent to Kanta, which means that the text entered after the previous update may appear in My Kanta.

The Apotti patient information system uses an advance search in the Kanta Services in accordance with the specifications of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. This means that when, for example, a referral is recorded as received, the system automatically checks and makes available to the professional what information can be found in other healthcare units, if the patient has submitted a consent in Kanta for disclosure of data.

The advance search also occurs when, for example, data recorded on a paper form in connection with a treatment appointment or data received from another operating unit for treatment purposes is scanned and stored in the system after a treatment appointment. This archiving event creates a service event in Apotti and makes an advance search in Kanta, even when no HUS personnel is processing the patient’s data in the Apotti system at the time.