Site Changes

On 1 November 2010 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was integrated into the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and a new website established at www.oaic.gov.au.

Note 1: Major changes to the Privacy Act 1988 will come into effect in March 2014. Agencies, businesses and not for profits need to start preparing for these changes. For more information go to our privacy law reform page at www.oaic.gov.au
Note 2: From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date. For new privacy content visit the www.oaic.gov.au website.

If you are a health service provider and a patient seeks access to their record, which includes reports or letters written by other health professionals (such as specialists), do you have to give the patient access to these documents?

Yes, unless one of the exceptions to National Privacy Principle 6: Access (NPP 6) applies.

As an organisation collecting and maintaining a record of personal information about an individual, in this case to provide a health service, all the personal information in the record (which has been collected, used or disclosed after 21 December 2001) is subject to NPP 6. This is the case whether the documents have been written by you or another health professional, including if the document is marked 'in confidence'.

Therefore, the individual has a general right of access to all of the personal information about them in the record, unless one of the exceptions to NPP 6 applies. These exceptions include that giving access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of any individual, or this would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, or it would prejudice certain law enforcement activities.

For more information on the operation of NPP 6 and the exceptions to providing access, see the Office's Guidelines on Privacy in the Private Health Sector, and the Information Sheet 4-2001 Access and Correction.