Access to Your Health Records

You have a right to access any health information that a health care provider has about you. This includes:

• information that was considered in providing advice or treatment
• records received from other health care professionals in relation to your treatment
• physical or electronic documents, such as x-rays, results or reports

You can request access to your records orally. If, however, your oral request is denied you should make another request in writing. Written requests must be responded to within 30 days. This can be extended by up to 30 days if needed.

You must prove your identity to the health care provider. Health care providers may also charge a reasonable fee for your request. This is to cover expenses related to providing access to your records and copies, if requested.

If you review your health information and discover an error, you have the right to request in writing that it be fixed. Within 30 days, the health care provider must either:

• correct the error
• if the request is refused, make a note on the record that a request to correct the error was made and refused

There are situations when you can be denied access to your health records. These include when your information:

• could harm the physical or mental health or safety of you or another person
• contains the personal health information of another person who has not consented to the disclosure
• reveals the identity of a person who supplied information in confidence
• was collected primarily for use in court proceedings
• could interfere with a lawful investigation

If part of a medical record cannot be disclosed, health care providers must still grant access to any other parts.