Health care providers viewing your record

During the pilot, only health care providers working at participating health care facilities can access your record. They have all signed confidentiality agreements and are provided with a unique username and password to log on to the system.

All authorised health care providers can access all records. However, it is NSW Health policy that health care providers should only access your record when they are directly involved in your health care. They are bound by law and ethical practice to keep your information confidential.

By default, all health care providers can view your record if they need to. If you wish, you may select specific health care facilities to have access to your record. For example, you may tell us that you only want health care providers from Blacktown Hospital, Blacktown Community Health Centre and your GP surgery in Blacktown to have access to your record. If you wish to restrict access in this way you need to call us.

To monitor access, a log is kept of each person who views a Healthelink record. You can request a printed report of this log, at any time, which shows who has viewed your record and what information they have seen. Or you can see for yourself if you get access to your record online.

Emergency situations

In you decide to restrict access to your record to particular health care facilities then no other health care provider can view your record. The exception to this rule is in emergency situations where a health care provider can decide to ‘break the glass’ to view your record. This means that the health care provider can access your information without your consent. This type of access is closely monitored and the health care provider must justify their action.

Other people viewing your record

Healthelink is not available for any commercial purposes and there are strict policies about who can access the system. The only other people who may have access to Healthelink are those involved in its evaluation, system maintenance and administration of the system, or where the law says access is required or allowed. Healthelink’s security and privacy policies will apply to these people.

The information we collect

Only information that comes from participating health care facilities will be added to your Healthelink record. This information already exists in the individual systems used by each health care facility. Healthelink just collects this information and stores it in a central place for easy access. The Healthelink system does not create new information.

Viewing your own record

If you have access to a computer and the Internet you can apply for online access to your record. We will give you a unique username and password so that you can access your record at any time. The access we give you is permanent unless you choose to withdraw from the Healthelink program.

If you don’t have access to a computer or the Internet, you can call us and we will mail you a paper version of your record.

Remember, you can access your record from any computer that has Internet access. These can be found at public libraries, Internet cafes or with family and friends.

Parents and guardians can also apply for online access to their child’s record.

Adding information to your record

You are able to add your own health information to your Healthelink record once you have online access.

The types of information that you can add include your allergies, medications or your blood pressure measurement. This information can be updated at any time.

If you have added something to your record that you want your health care provider to be aware of, please tell them during your visit, as they will not be automatically notified when you do so.

Sensitive information

Your Healthelink record will contain information from each visit you make to a participating facility. You may find that the information generated is sensitive and that you don’t want other health care providers to see these details. At this stage, we cannot block specific pieces of information from being accessed by particular health care providers.

If this is of concern to you, then you have the option to withdraw from the Healthelink program altogether or for a short period of time. Remember, you can re-join at any time by calling us on 1800 75 22 66.

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