Your Privacy

Download the Protecting Your Privacy brochure.

What does privacy mean to us?

At Western Health, we are committed to keeping all information about you and your family members (our patients / clients / residents), confidential.

As part of our ongoing commitment to you, we want you to know why we ask for your personal information, how we use it and keep it safe, and how you can ask about your information.

What personal information do we collect?

Information that identifies you as an individual such as your name, address, date of birth, and MCP number
Information about your needs in order to plan services with you
Information about the services you receive

Where does your personal information come from?

Directly from you (our patient / client / resident)
From other organizations who refer you to us for services
From other Western Health professionals when it is required by law that information be reported. Examples include child protection and infectious diseases
From other sources, with your consent

Why do we collect your personal information?

To correctly identify you as the person needing our services
To be able to contact you when necessary
To identify your needs so that we may provide services to you
To plan and manage our services
To meet legal requirements for reporting to government

Sharing your personal information

Our employees work together as a team to provide you with services. This may mean that some of your information may be shared among your team members to make sure you get the best possible service.

Western Health is part of a larger provincial health care system. Therefore, information such as your name, address, date of birth, and MCP number will be shared with the province-wide Client Registry. This will keep your information current and accurate.

Information may also be shared for statistical purposes or research. We will either remove your name and other information that identifies you or contact you for your consent before release.

Safeguards

We take seriously our duty to keep your information private. It will only be released when you give us consent to do so or when we are required by law. Western Health has policies and procedures in place to make sure that your information is protected from being lost or shared without your permission.

Professional employees are guided by their professional codes of ethics and have signed confidentiality agreements. Your information is also protected through the use of :

Secure locks on cabinets and doors
Limited access to records and work locations by approved employees only
Passwords and other security measures for computers

What are you rights?

To know what information we have about you in our records
To review and obtain a copy of your records. Exceptions may apply.
To know who has access to your records and for what reason
To correct or add information to your record
To ask about our information policies and talk to us about them
To tell us if you think we are not following our policies or if you have concerns that you wish to be heard

Our commitment to you

At Western Health, we take our responsibility to protect the security and confidentiality of your information very seriously. If we identify any concerns with the security or accuracy of your information we will contact you.

If you have questions or concerns about your personal information, please talk with your care / service provider.

Who can I contact?

If you have unanswered questions, please call the Western Health Privacy Coordinator at (709) 637-5000, ext. 5248 between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday.

For more information on ATIPP (Access To Information and Protection of Privacy Office) please visit the following site:

http://www.justice.gov.nl.ca/just/info/index.html

Western Health