PRIVACY POLICY

Privacy Policy . This policy pertains to clients registered with the Community Diabetes Education Program, which operates under Centretown Community Health Centre

Centretown Community Health Centre (CCHC) is committed to maintaining the privacy of all personal information you provide us and has prepared this Privacy Policy to inform you of our policy and practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information

What is Personal Information?
Personal information includes information such as your name, address, and home telephone number, and any information necessary to provide you with our services such as your health insurance numbers and medical history.

How we Protect Your Personal Information

We understand the importance of protecting your personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:

  • CCHC staff who come in contact with your personal information are required to keep your information confidential and are properly trained in the appropriate collection, use and protection of your information. Employees who fail to abide by CCHC’s privacy policies and procedures may face disciplinary action.
  • Your personal information is entered in a numbered file, which is kept in locked cabinets. The centre is secured with an alarm system.
  • Only designated staff can access your information stored on our computers by using a secured pass code. Volunteers and students may be granted limited access for specific purposes.
  • External consultants and agencies with access to your personal information must enter into privacy agreements with us.
  • Procedures Applicable Only to CCHC’s Lifestyle Enrichment for Senior Adults (LESA) Program:
  • Your personal information may be shared amongst LESA Team members for the purposes of treatment planning.
  • Your personal information may only be released to anyone outside LESA with your specific written consent, which must be renewed on a yearly basis.
  • LESA outings and group activities are provided as a therapeutic benefit. Your participation in these activities is confidential. The use of cameras or electronic recording devices at outings and group activities is not permitted.
  • As required by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for statistics and funding purposes, specific information about your activities is entered into the provincial web-based data information system, DATIS/CATALYST, and only non-identifying data is transmitted to the DATIS server.


Retention and Destruction of Your Personal Information
Your medical records are kept for 10 years past the date at which you reach 18 years of age or, if you are over 18, for 10 years past the date of the last entry in your record. Some records may be kept longer if required by a government agency or by law.

If you do not visit the CCHC for more than five years, your files will be recorded on microfiche or computer disks, and the paper copies will be destroyed by shredding. The microfiche/disks are securely stored in a fireproof filing cabinet at CCHC. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hard drive is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed.

You Can Look at Your Personal Information
With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you and to receive copies of your records. The records are the property of the CCHC so originals will not be released. To access your information, we may ask you to put your request in writing by signing a Release of Information form, and to confirm your identity. We will provide access to your records for your review within 30 days of your request, or 60 days if the search is complex. You will generally be asked to review your records with a CCHC health-care provider present, so that information can be explained to you.

We may refuse to show you your medical records if a health-care provider believes that such access would result in a substantial risk to your physical, mental, or emotional health or harm to a third party.

If you believe there is a mistake in the information, you have a right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that we made a mistake, we will make the correction and, where appropriate, notify anyone to whom we sent this information. If we do not agree that we made a mistake, we will agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and, as appropriate, we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

Collection and Use of Your Personal Information
CCHC collects and uses the personal information you provide us verbally or in writing in order to: determine what care, programs or services you require; document the course of your care or involvement in one of our programs or services; provide a means of communication among CCHC staff who help with your care; and, comply with any legal and regulatory requirements. CCHC limits the information collected from you to what is needed for these purposes.

All of your communications with CCHC are confidential at all times. To meet your needs, information may be shared for purposes of consultation between CCHC staff and external collaborative agencies. We only share your information with your prior written or verbal consent, unless we are required to do so by law. Where the law obliges or permits CCHC to disclose information without your consent, CCHC will not disclose more information than is required.


CCHC may be required by law to provide your information to a third party without your consent :

  • Emergencies
    Where your life, health or safety is at risk, essential information may be shared with other non-CCHC health-care providers without your or your next of kin's verbal or written consent.
  • Prevention of Imminent Harm - Duty to Inform/Warn
    Where a health-care provider believes that your information must be disclosed to prevent serious and imminent harm to yourself or a third party, the minimum amount of information necessary to avoid the potential harm will be disclosed to your family members and/or the police.
  • Police Search Warrants
    Where a police officer has a search warrant authorizing the release of your records.
  • Court Orders
    Where a judge issues a court order requiring CCHC to produce your records.
  • Suspected Child Abuse
    Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is or may be suffering or may have suffered abuse, the suspicion and the information on which it is based must be reported by CCHC to the Children's Aid Society.
  • College Investigations and Coroners
    Where requests are made to view your records by investigators appointed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the College of Nurses of Ontario, the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, and the Coroner.
  • Potential Liability to CCHC
    Where legal issues arise, upon the authority of CCHC's Executive Director, client records may be provided to CCHC's own lawyer, own liability insurer or an adjuster or a lawyer acting on behalf of CCHC's insurer to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that CCHC may sustain.
  • Reports Required of Physicians By Law
    Physicians are required by law to report particular events or conditions to the appropriate government or regulatory agency:
  • Suspected Elder Abuse in Long Term Care Homes
    Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a resident in a nursing home has suffered or may suffer harm as a result of unlawful conduct, improper or incompetent treatment or care or neglect, the physician must report the suspicion and the information upon which it is based to the Director, Long Term Care Homes Branch.
  • Health Conditions That Make It Dangerous To Drive
    Where, in the opinion of the physician, a person sixteen years of age or over attending upon the physician for medical services, is suffering from a condition that may make it dangerous for the person to operate a motor vehicle, the physician must report the person's name, address and clinical condition to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles.
  • Health Conditions That Make It Dangerous To Fly An Airplane or Perform the Duties of An Air Traffic Controller
    Where a physician believes on reasonable grounds that a patient is a flight crew member, an air traffic controller or other holder of a Canadian aviation document that imposes standards of medical or optometric fitness, the physician must, if in his or her opinion the patient has a medical or optometric condition that is likely to constitute a hazard to aviation safety, inform a medical adviser designated by the Federal Minister of Transportation of the opinion and the information on which the opinion is based.
  • Births, Stillbirths and Deaths
    Every physician who attends the birth of a child in Ontario must give notice of the birth. Any physician in attendance at a stillbirth must complete a medical certificate of the cause of death and deliver it to the funeral director in charge of the body. Any physician who has been in attendance during the last illness of a deceased person or who has sufficient knowledge of the last illness must, after the death of that person, complete a medical certificate of death stating the cause of death and deliver the certificate to the funeral director or other person in charge of the body.
  • Certain Communicable Diseases, Conditions, or Adverse Reactions to Immunizations
    A physician who, while providing professional services to a person who is not a patient in or an outpatient of a hospital, forms the opinion that the person has or may have a reportable disease, or the person is or may be infected with an agent of a communicable disease, must report this fact to the Medical Officer of Health of the health unit in which the professional services are provided.
  • Health Card Fraud
    A physician who, in the course of his or her professional or official duties, has knowledge that a person has engaged in specified fraudulent activities related to the Ontario Health Insurance Program (OHIP), must report those activities to the General Manager of OHIP.
  • Sexual Abuse by a Health Professional
    A physician who has reasonable grounds to believe that another member of the same or different health profession has sexually abused a patient, must file a report with the Registrar of the College of the health professional who is the subject of the report.

Do You Have a Concern?

If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy and practices, please contact our Privacy Officer:

Privacy Officer
Centretown Community Health Centre
420 Cooper Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K2P 2N6
Phone: (613) 233-4443
TTY: (613) 233-0651
E-mail: [email protected]

If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you may make it in writing to our Privacy Officer. Our Privacy Officer will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly and provide you with a formal written decision.


For more general inquiries concerning the protection of personal health information or to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario can be reached at:

www.ipc.on.ca
Phone: (416) 326-3333
Fax: (416) 325-9195