We collect and hold information about all of our patients so we can provide the right care and treatment. Your information is confidential and the only staff who are allowed to see your records are those who are involved in your care.
Whether you are a current or previous patient, you have a right to ask and be given access to personal health information. Please fill in the form below and supply the required documentation to request information.
Download the Patient Information Release Form.
How is your information used?
Your family doctor gets a summary of your treatment and any special instructions they need to know, unless you ask us not to do this. If you don’t want us to send this information to your family doctor, please let us know when you are admitted to hospital or come in for an appointment at the hospital or health centre.
Some patient information is used in a general way to help with research and planning so we can improve our services but there are strict rules about how we do this and your privacy is always protected. By law we have to provide some details to a secure health register if you have certain cancers and infectious diseases. The law provides protection for your information and we comply with these laws.
Your consent to treatment
You may need to make choices about your treatment and care. We will provide the information you need in a way you can understand. You can expect to be able to discuss your options with us privately and in a way that makes you feel comfortable.
When you have decided what to do, you will be asked to give your consent. Your consent is needed for all treatment. You can ask questions and change your mind at any time. You are welcome to have a support person or kaiawhina with you.
If tissue is taken from you for testing or any part of your body is removed, you can ask to have this returned to you. Otherwise we keep the tissue or body part for four weeks and then cremate it.
Correcting information
If you think that the information we hold is inaccurate, you are entitled to ask for it to be corrected.
Except for clearly factual information (such as your name, date of birth, ethnicity) you may be invited to provide a statement of the correction sought. This statement will be attached to your file. Our privacy officer can help you to compose this statement if you wish.
Accessing another person’s health information
We usually require a patient's authorisation before we can release their information to anyone else. The request form includes a place for the patient's signature to show that we are allowed to give this information to you. We will also need to see your photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport.
We may be able to release the information even if we do not have this authorisation, but only if we are permitted to do so under Rule 11 of the Health Information Privacy Code.
If you are requesting health information without the patient's authorisation, please tell us why authorisation cannot be supplied.
Deceased patients
If the person whose information you want has been deceased for less than 20 years, their legal representative (the person dealing with the estate) must give written authorisation before we can release information.
Please complete the request form above and attach a copy of the signed written authorisation from that person before sending to Patient Information Services (see contact details below).
Children
If you are the parent of a child under 16, you do not have an automatic right to access your child's health information, but the information will be disclosed to you if you are acting as your child's representative. Because we have a responsibility to your child as well as to you, on some occasions we may ask you about your reasons for accessing your child's information.
If you are specific about the information you want, we can respond more quickly to your request. The law allows 20 working days to process your request.
To find out more and submit requests for information
Postal address:
Patient Information Officer
Patient Information Services
Capital & Coast District Health Board
Private Bag 7902
WELLINGTON 6242
Email: pio@ccdhb.org.nz
Phone: (04) 385 5999 ext 82637
Fax: (04) 385 5873
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