Doctors and hospitals are charging people up to ten times the legal limit for copies of their health records, it was claimed yesterday.

Massive over-charging meant that some patients were effectively being denied access to their own medical notes, said the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).

Under the Data Protection Act, hospitals and GPs can charge a maximum of £10 for access to health records held electronically and £50 for hard copies of their notes.

If the medical records are requested within 40 days of treatment there should be no charge at all. Soaring numbers of patients are now suing their local health authorities, hospitals and doctors over bungled treatment and other adverse incidents.

But in one case, APIL said, a hospital charged £533 for copies of records.

Paul Balen, a clinical negligence expert and APIL member, said: "The single, most costly part of an initial investigation into clinical negligence has always been obtaining medical records.

"This is because of difficulties in obtaining complete records and protracted arguments about charges.