Medical record delays putting patients' health at risk

Leongatha patients are still waiting for access to critical medical records 75 days after the Leongatha Healthcare clinic closed, federal Member for Monash Mary Aldred told parliament on Wednesday.

Ms Aldred has written to the federal Minister for Health and Ageing for a second time on the matter demanding urgent intervention.

"It's been 75 days since the Leongatha Healthcare clinic closed and patients are still waiting for access to critical medical records," she said.

Frustrated patients have contacted Ms Aldred's office seeking an end to the saga including one man with multiple serious health issues awaiting surgery.

"He described the situation in two simple words, he said it's just absurd and it's unacceptable," Ms Aldred said.

"And it is unacceptable. It reflects a broader failure in the Victorian health system. Pressure across regional services and a lack of leadership by the state government has led to multiple examples of unresponsiveness and lack of accountability."

Ms Aldred acknowledged the federal Health Minister for responding to several sensitive matters arising from the closure and commended state MPs Danny O'Brien and Melina Bath for "sticking up for our community".

The Leongatha Healthcare clinic closed without warning on Friday January 16 leaving as many as 8000 patients without a GP and with limited access to their medical records.

Rail Trail Medical opened in the Leongatha hospital precinct in early March to fill some of the gap but the transfer of patient records from the former clinic has remained the dominant community concern.

The Health Complaints Commissioner told the Sentinel-Times last week it had regulatory powers to issue Compliance Notices and warned that failure to comply was an offence that may result in penalties.

Hundreds of formal requests for records have been lodged but few have been complied with.