[Access to psychiatric and child psychiatric case records in the Copenhagen County Hospital in Nordvang in 1987].

Commencing on 1.1.1987, all requests for access to case records were registered prospectively in all of the Copenhagen County Hospitals. In the Copenhagen County Hospital, Nordvang, 103 requests were made for access to the case records in the course of 1987. Ninety-five requests in the adult departments resulted in complete access in 90 cases, limited access in one case while access was refused in three cases. One person making the request did not turn up. Eight requests concerning patients in the child psychiatric department resulted in complete access in one case, limited access in five cases while access was refused in two cases. This corresponds to 3.0% in the departments for child psychiatry and 2.7% in the departments for adults. No deterioration in health was observed in any of the 97 cases where access was permitted. In many cases, insight into the case records may, on the other hand, be a good therapeutic measure. On two cases only, access to the case records was given to a third person with the patient's permission, and the majority of the patients did not request a copy of the case records but accepted access to the case records in the form of the right to read the case records with assistance, if necessary. It is concluded that in the first year after introduction of the Danish legislation concerning access to the case records, this ran very smoothly with fewer difficulties than anticipated in a large psychiatric hospital in the region of the capital.