Can I pursue defamatory statements on my medical record via small claims?

[Guest]

Hi all,An NHS hospital wrote to my nhs gp and made a false statement about me, namely that I failed to attend a hospital appointment.
I never received any letter and am not receiving any care at that hospital, never requested any such referral either. A year prior, i called up and recorded* a call in which i cancelled an appointment with the same team now accusing me of not attending. This letter claiming i failed to attend has now been scanned onto my medical file by the gp. This false allegation is seriously problematic for me. I am ill with a life threatening condition and have had VERY little support from the NHS (denied referrals repeatedly which led to late diagnosis). Such false allegations on patient files risk you being denied care and also make the NHS GPs very unhelpful towards you when you seek a referral because they believe the lies.*
The hospital failed to respond to a complaint which is which is why i* had to consider legal action
I sent the hospital a letter before action in which i asked for a copy of the alleged appointment letter and evidence of receipt by me - failing which they have no legal basis for such an allegation. They failed to respond - because they probably know i can't pursue this via small claims - or can I ? I'm confused. I cannot afford any other kind of litigation and I feel really strongly about this because it is a tactic commonly used by the NHS to ruin the credibility of people they regard as "problem" patients. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. As an aside, I have a visual impairment and the capchas are virtually impossible for me to decipher

[des8]

Sorry to hear of your problems.

You sent a letter before action... did it comply with the preaction protocol?https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...tocol/prot_def
If both sides agree the case may be heard in the county court.

I think your problems will be in proving 1) that you did not fail to attend an appointment. You may not have received notification of an appointment, but never the less you did not attend. IMO you need to put the record put straight by writing to both your GP and the hospital. Have you exhausted the hospital and Hospital Trust's complaints procedures?
2)that the letter has caused or is likely to cause serious harm. I'm not sure that you could prove "Such false allegations on patient files risk you being denied care and also make the NHS GPs very unhelpful towards you when you seek a referral because they believe the lies."


Those bloody A*s