My request to see my medical notes has sparked all-out panic at my GP surgery

My request to see my medical notes has sparked all-out panic at the GP surgery. ‘What do you mean?’ said the receptionist who answered the phone when I called to ask. She sounded even more furious than the time I rang to ask if I could possibly have an appointment to see the doctor. On that occasion, she affected her best Lady Bracknell impression, ‘The doctor? You want to see the doctor?’ ‘Well, yes if it isn’t too much trouble,’ I spluttered, as she audibly bashed her keyboard in ill-disguised rage at my impertinence. On this occasion, she was horribly icy. ‘I mean,’ I stammered, ‘I want to see my medical notes, as the law entitles me.’ ‘The law?’ she said. A haaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaand-bag! ‘Yes, I understand, reading the legislation, that I am entitled to view my notes.’ ‘They’re not your notes. They’re OUR property!’ ‘Really? Well, in any case, I’m entitled to…’ ‘WHY?’ ‘Why what?’ ‘Why do you want to see them?’ Oh dear, she’s going to have me struck off the patient list for being a subversive. I will never get a doctor’s appointment again. Possibly they will have me sectioned and locked away. ‘Well, e-hem, as I understand it, I don’t have to give a reason…’ ‘YES YOU DO!’ she yelled. ‘No, I really don’t,’ I said. And I read out the relevant sentence in the NHS guidelines, which I had on the laptop screen in front of me. Silence. ‘You see, I don’t have to tell you why.’ ‘I never said you did!’ ‘Yes, you did. You said exactly that just a second ago.’ ‘Well, you’ll have to put your request in writing!’ ‘Who shall I put it in writing to?’ ‘The practice manager!’ ‘And their name is?’ She gasped with exasperation before saying a name that was so utterly impossible to guess how to spell I had to ask, and she spelt the name by spitting every letter like a shot of venom.