A HEALTH board has said "crossed wires" may have been to blame after a hospital patient was told she would be charged to look at her notes.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in the acute receiving unit.

She was given a X-Ray of her chest and stomach and asked to see her notes because she did not fully understand the doctor's diagnosis.

She claims she asked the nurse if she could look at her notes, which were in a folder on the door of her room, and was told there would be a fee.

The 67-year-old, who is being treated for terminal stomach cancer, was unhappy about being asked to pay. She later asked a doctor and was given her notes.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said that it does not charge patients to access their medical notes in hospital. A spokesman said the error may have been down to "crossed wires."

He said: "We must re-emphasise to you that we do not charge patients to see their medical notes. Indeed, we do not have any mechanism to take any payment from any patients to look at their medical notes. As you have noted, the doctor showed the notes to the patient."

Patients may be charged if an Access to Records application is made under the Data Protection Act (1998).

The charge, normally £10, covers the cost of copying medical records, although the legislation allows for a maximum charge of £50 in particularly complex cases.

Last year, health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, aannounced plans to give patients in England access to their entire medical record by 2018, and to let them read and add to their GP record using their smartphone within a year.

The announcement prompted fears of a repeat of last year’s row over care.data, a programme in which patient records were shared outside the NHS without their consent.

The opposition forced NHS England to halt the scheme temporarily while it addressed the concerns.