The story · 9 short steps

Does Marcus's record travel?

Marcus is a made-up basketball player from Portugal. In 2026, on an away game in Spain, two of the five parts of his health record can reach the doctor through an EU link, with his OK. When he moves, no source we found shows any part following him: across 7 clubs in 7 countries, he carries his own copy.

Skip the story: try your own route

Marcus, a tall smiling basketball player in a sky blue tank top, stands on a sloping street of pastel houses, holding a ball and a duffel bag, with a yellow tram behind him.

Meet Marcus

A made-up career built from real law and our cross-border research.

Meet Marcus, a pro basketball player. He grew up in Portugal. His career will take him to 7 more countries.

Every move leaves a piece of his health record behind.

The details

His career is made up; any resemblance to a real player is chance. It is the same route as the athlete on our traveling patient page: Portugal, then Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom and Qatar.

At each stop, we check five parts of his record: 1. health summary, 2. medicines, 3. lab results, 4. scans and X-rays, 5. hospital notes.

Sources: our cross-border research, on the traveling patient page (checked to October 2, 2026).

Marcus sits on an ER bed with a bandaged ankle on a pillow, smiling a little, while a doctor checks a computer screen.

An away game

During an away game in Spain, Marcus sprains an ankle. In the Spanish regions connected to the link, the ER doctor can see his Portuguese health summary through an EU link called MyHealth@EU, with his OK. A Spanish pharmacy can fill his Portuguese e-prescription the same way.

His lab results, scans and hospital notes don't travel that way yet. He can bring a copy.

An away game in Spain, and after the move
Stop	Held in	Summary	Medicines	Labs	Scans	Notes	Copy he can bring
Away game visiting Spain	1 country	via EU link	via EU link	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	yes, all 5 pieces
After the move living in Spain	1 country	no source today, EU right 2029	no source today, EU right 2029	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	yes, all 5 pieces

Away game visiting Spain

Held in: 1 country
Health summary: via EU link
Medicines: via EU link
Lab results: EU right 2031
Scans and X-rays: EU right 2031
Hospital notes: EU right 2031
Copy he can bring: yes, all 5 pieces

After the move living in Spain

Held in: 1 country
Health summary: no source today, EU right 2029
Medicines: no source today, EU right 2029
Lab results: EU right 2031
Scans and X-rays: EU right 2031
Hospital notes: EU right 2031
Copy he can bring: yes, all 5 pieces

One mark for each country that holds a piece of his record:
Reaches the doctor or pharmacy through an EU link, with his OK
EU right from 2029 or 2031 (year shown)
Planned, not yet in law ("planned")
No source says either way (with a year under it: no source today, EU right from that year)
None found

The details

Spain's Ministry of Health lists the countries its regions can exchange EU patient summaries with: "CCAA de España que pueden comunicar informes EU-Patient Summary (EUPS) y Estados Miembros UE con los que se puede operar" (in English: "Spanish regions that can share EU patient summaries, and the EU countries they can work with"). Portugal is on the map.

Our traveling patient data shows his health summary and prescriptions already reach Spain from Portugal through the link, with his OK. For the other three parts, EU law sets a later date (2031, step 6).

Sources: Ministerio de Sanidad (Spain), patient summary map (image dated June 19, 2026) and e-prescription tracker (August 2026); our cross-border research, on the traveling patient page (checked to October 2, 2026).

Marcus carries a stack of moving boxes toward a sunny apartment building, a small moving van behind him.

Then he moves

Then Marcus signs with a club in Spain and moves there. Now he lives in Spain.

The EU's rules for this link talk about visitors. They don't say if it works for people who move.

So no source shows any part of his record reaching his new Spanish doctor through a link.

The details

The EU's own guidelines for the patient summary describe two cases: "Two Use Cases are possible with regard to the Patient Summary (PS). The first is the one in which an occasional visitor needs his/her PS in country B for emergency or planned care. The second is the one in which the person is a regular visitor in country B (i.e. someone who lives in one country but works in another country)." Neither case names someone who moves to live in another country.

We count this as "no source says", never as "no".

Sources: eHealth Network Guidelines on Patient Summary, Release 3.4 (November 2024).

Marcus sits at a kitchen table with a laptop, smiling, holding up a USB stick and a paper folder.

The part he can carry

What he can do: ask for a copy. EU law says he can get a copy of the health data each hospital or clinic holds about him. If he asks online or by email, the law says he should get it as a common computer file.

He asks each one, then takes the copies to his new doctor himself.

In the EU, his copy goes wherever he goes.

The details

GDPR, Article 15(3): "The controller shall provide a copy of the personal data undergoing processing." And: "Where the data subject makes the request by electronic means, and unless otherwise requested by the data subject, the information shall be provided in a commonly used electronic form". The right has some limits in law (Article 15(4) and national rules).

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Article 15(3) and (4).

Marcus walks through a bright airport pulling a suitcase, with a plane outside the window.

Club after club

France, Italy, Germany, Norway. With each club, one more country holds a piece of his record.

By his fifth club, in Norway, parts of his record are held in 5 countries. No source shows any of them sending a part to his doctor there.

His folder gets thicker. The system doesn't catch up.

Club by club
Stop	Held in	Summary	Medicines	Labs	Scans	Notes	Copy he can bring
Spain club 1	1 country	no source today, EU right 2029	no source today, EU right 2029	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	yes, all 5 pieces
France club 2	2 countries	no source today, EU right 2029	EU right 2029	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	yes, all 10 pieces
Italy club 3	3 countries	2 countries: EU right 2029; 1 country: no source today, EU right 2029	EU right 2029	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	yes, all 15 pieces
Germany club 4	4 countries	2 countries: EU right 2029; 2 countries: no source today, EU right 2029	EU right 2029	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	EU right 2031	yes, all 20 pieces
Norway club 5	5 countries	4 countries: no source; 1 country: planned	planned	no source	no source	no source	yes, all 25 pieces
UK club 6	6 countries	none found	none found	none found	none found	none found	yes, all 30 pieces
Qatar club 7	7 countries	none found	none found	none found	none found	none found	yes, all 35 pieces; 5 UK pieces: form unknown

Spain club 1

Held in: 1 country
Health summary: no source today, EU right 2029
Medicines: no source today, EU right 2029
Lab results: EU right 2031
Scans and X-rays: EU right 2031
Hospital notes: EU right 2031
Copy he can bring: yes, all 5 pieces

France club 2

Held in: 2 countries
Health summary: no source today, EU right 2029
Medicines: EU right 2029
Lab results: EU right 2031
Scans and X-rays: EU right 2031
Hospital notes: EU right 2031
Copy he can bring: yes, all 10 pieces

Italy club 3

Held in: 3 countries
Health summary: 2 countries: EU right 2029; 1 country: no source today, EU right 2029
Medicines: EU right 2029
Lab results: EU right 2031
Scans and X-rays: EU right 2031
Hospital notes: EU right 2031
Copy he can bring: yes, all 15 pieces

Germany club 4

Held in: 4 countries
Health summary: 2 countries: EU right 2029; 2 countries: no source today, EU right 2029
Medicines: EU right 2029
Lab results: EU right 2031
Scans and X-rays: EU right 2031
Hospital notes: EU right 2031
Copy he can bring: yes, all 20 pieces

Norway club 5

Held in: 5 countries
Health summary: 4 countries: no source; 1 country: planned
Medicines: planned
Lab results: no source
Scans and X-rays: no source
Hospital notes: no source
Copy he can bring: yes, all 25 pieces

UK club 6

Held in: 6 countries
Health summary: none found
Medicines: none found
Lab results: none found
Scans and X-rays: none found
Hospital notes: none found
Copy he can bring: yes, all 30 pieces

Qatar club 7

Held in: 7 countries
Health summary: none found
Medicines: none found
Lab results: none found
Scans and X-rays: none found
Hospital notes: none found
Copy he can bring: yes, all 35 pieces; 5 UK pieces: form unknown

One mark for each country that holds a piece of his record:
Reaches the doctor or pharmacy through an EU link, with his OK
EU right from 2029 or 2031 (year shown)
Planned, not yet in law ("planned")
No source says either way (with a year under it: no source today, EU right from that year)
None found

"Held in": how many countries hold a piece of his record. "Copy he can bring": "yes" means a right to a copy he can ask for, which comes electronically if he asks online or by email, with some limits in law; "form unknown": the UK pieces, where the guidance we cite does not say if the copy comes electronically. Each column is a new club. One mark for each country that holds part of his record by then, in the order he lived there, starting with Portugal, his home. Sources: our cross-border research, on the traveling patient page (checked to October 2, 2026); Regulation (EU) 2025/327, Article 105; copies: GDPR, Article 15, ICO health access guidance (UK). Norway's plan: Helsedirektoratet.

The details

At each stop we check every country that holds a piece of his record, for each of the five parts. Where no source says either way, we say so. Norway is not in the EU, but it applies the EU's data protection law through the European Economic Area, so his right to a copy holds there too.

Sources: our cross-border research, on the traveling patient page (checked to October 2, 2026).

Marcus stands in front of a closed glass door in a calm building, looking up at a clock. Through the glass, a doctor works at a desk.

A right that starts later

From 2029, a new EU law gives people in the EU the right to have their health summary and prescriptions sent to another EU country.

From 2031, the same goes for lab results, scans and hospital notes.

That is a right in law. It doesn't move a record today.

The details

Regulation (EU) 2025/327: "from 26 March 2029 to priority categories of personal electronic health data referred to in Article 14(1), points (a), (b) and (c)" and "from 26 March 2031 to priority categories of personal electronic health data referred to in Article 14(1), points (d), (e) and (f)". Norway is not in the EU. Our data don't say if these rights reach Norway.

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2025/327 (European Health Data Space), Article 105.

Marcus stands outside a modern clinic in a sunny city with glass towers and palm trees, a folder under one arm and a ball in the other.

Outside the EU

Then he plays in the UK, and later in Qatar. Neither is under EU law, and we found no link that sends his record there.

Seven countries, counting Portugal, now hold parts of his record. We count five parts in each: 35 pieces. In Qatar, he can bring an electronic copy of 30 of them, if he asks online or by email. For the rest, held in the UK, he has a right to a copy, with some limits, but the guidance we cite doesn't say whether it comes in electronic form.

Out here, his copy is the only way we found for his history to arrive.

The details

For the UK and Qatar we searched and found no exchange; we say "none found", not "none exists". Our traveling patient page counts only the copies we know come electronically: 30 of 35 pieces.

Sources: our cross-border research, on the traveling patient page (checked to October 2, 2026), searches dated October 2, 2026; ICO, Right of access: health information (updated December 8, 2025).

Marcus kneels by an open duffel bag in a sunny bedroom, putting a paper folder and a USB stick inside, with a basketball and sneakers beside the bag.

Pack his bag

Your turn. Four quick questions. No sign-up, nothing saved.

Then try your own route.

1. During an away game in Spain, can the ER doctor see his Portuguese health summary through the EU link?

Yes, in the Spanish regions connected to the link, with his OK. A Spanish pharmacy can also fill his Portuguese prescriptions.

2. After he moves to live in Spain, does any part reach his new doctor through a link?

The EU's rules for the link talk about visitors, not people who move.

3. From which year does EU law give him a right to have his scans sent?

2031 covers lab results, scans and hospital notes. 2029 covers the summary and prescriptions.

4. In the EU, does he have a right to a copy of his health data to carry?

EU data protection law gives a right to a copy of the data held about him, with some limits.

Your answers stay on this page. Nothing is saved or sent.

Marcus sits on a bench by a basketball court, smiling, his ankle healed, a folder and a ball beside him.

So, is it easy?

During his away game in Spain, two parts of his record could reach the doctor through the EU link, with his OK. When he moves to live somewhere new, no source shows any part going with him yet.

He carries the rest himself. EU law adds rights from 2029 and 2031 in the EU; whether they reach Norway is not in our data.

Where would your record go?

Now try it yourselfon the traveling patient map: pick your home country, your trips and your moves.

See his route on the map: the athlete on the traveling patient page.
Check our work: every live link and every "none found" has its source on that page.
Tell us if we got a country wrong: the corrections route.

Built by SuperTruth, which checks whether a record can be trusted before an AI acts on it. About SuperTruth · How we used AI