You have the right to apply for access to information held in your health records under the Administrative Access Scheme.  To apply for access complete the administrative access form or contact a clinical information access officer.

When seeking access to your health information, you will need to provide evidence of your identity, such as:

• passport
• copy of a certificate or extract from a register of births
• drivers licence or 18+ card
• a statutory declaration from an individual who has known the person for at least one year, or
• if the person is a prisoner within the meaning of the Corrective Services Act 2006, a copy of the person’s identity card from the Department administering that Act that is certified by a corrective services officer within the meaning of that Act.

Alternatively, a copy of one of the above mentioned documents (apart from a prisoner identity card), where the copy has been certified as a ‘true copy’ by a qualified witness (that is, a lawyer or notary public, a Commissioner for Declarations or a Justice of the Peace, or correctional officer in the case of a prisoner identity card) will be accepted, as long as the original certified copy is provided.

Specific details of the requirements for evidence of identity, as well as evidence of authorisation where an application is made by an agent on an applicant’s behalf, can be forwarded to the Clinical Information Access Unit.

If you don’t have any of the listed documents, talk to a clinical information access officer about other accepted evidence of identity documents.

If your application cannot be processed under an administrative access scheme, it will generally be referred for processing under the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld).

For more information on how to access your records view the  Your Health Record and Personal Information brochure.

Decision making timeframes

Administrative Access applications must be processed within 20 business days, unless a further specified period has been agreed to by the Applicant. Extensions to the processing time can be applied if the applicant agrees and if it is requested prior to the original processing deadline.

Right of review

If you are dissatisfied with a decision we have made under either the Right to Information Act or the Information Privacy Act, you can apply to have that decision reviewed. An application for review must be made within 20 business days of the date of the letter communicating the decision. There are two options for review; an internal or an external review. An internal review will be conducted by another, not less senior, officer of the agency that made the access decision. An external review is conducted by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

• Explaining your review rights

Accessing other people’s health records

If you want to access someone else’s records (e.g. a relative’s), and you do not have or are unable to obtain their consent, you will need to make a Right to Information (RTI) Act application.

You can request information by:

• applying online
• downloading the Right to information and information privacy information access application form and submit the original form:
  • in person at any government service centre
  • by mail, fax or email to the relevant right to information contact at Metro North Hospital and Health Service.

Where an Enduring Power of Attorney is in place and the patient lacks capacity, an application can be made under the Powers of Attorney Act, 1998. A solicitor or agent can act on behalf of another person, however the patient’s authority is required in this situation. Other requirements may include evidence of identity for the patient and agent. A Release of Information request may incur some fees and charges.

For information on accessing records for deceased patients please contact a clinical information access officer.

Documents of a non-personal nature released under the Right to Information Act 2009 will be progressively published through our disclosure log.

Accessing a child’s health record

There are no charges for accessing a child’s record under the Information Privacy Act however  the decision-maker needs to satisfy themselves that the person applying is doing so for the child’s interests. The decision maker will need to know why the records is being requested and in order to determine if the release of the record is in the child’s best interests.

For further information on accessing records for children please contact a clinical information access officer.

Amending information in your health record

If there is information in your health record that is incorrect or which you do not agree with, you can apply for it to be amended under the Information Privacy Act 2009. You will need to provide details of why the information may be inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading.  For more information please contact a clinical information access officer.

Fees and charges

There is no application fee for access and processing of Administrative Access applications, however there may be processing fee for Information Privacy Act applications dependent on the volume of information required.

Processing timeframes

Under the RTI and IP Acts (Qld) 2009, applications must be processed within 25 business days, unless a further specified period has been agreed to by the Applicant. Where it is required to consult with and obtain the views of a relevant third party, an additional 10 business days is added to the 25 business day processing timeframe. Extensions to the processing time can be applied if the applicant agrees and if it is requested prior to the original processing deadline.