If you are or have been a patient or client of Hauora Tairāwhiti you have a right to ask and be given access to personal health information. Please fill in the form below and supply the required documentation to request information.
Download the Patient Information Release Form.
We can refuse your request, but only for very limited reasons which we would explain at the time.
Correcting information
If you think that the information we hold is inaccurate, you are entitled to ask for it to be corrected.
Except for clearly factual information (such as your name, date of birth, ethnicity) you may be invited to provide a statement of the correction sought. This statement will be attached to your file. Our privacy officer can help you to compose this statement if you wish.
Accessing another person’s health information
We usually require a patient's authorisation before we can release their information to anyone else. The request form includes a place for the patient's signature to show that we are allowed to give this information to you. We will also need to see your photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport.
We may be able to release the information even if we do not have this authorisation, but only if we are permitted to do so under Rule 11 of the Health Information Privacy Code.
If you are requesting health information without the patient's authorisation, please tell us why authorisation cannot be supplied.
Deceased patients
If the person whose information you want has been deceased for less than 20 years, their legal representative (the person dealing with the estate) must give written authorisation before we can release information.
Please complete the request form above and attach a copy of the signed written authorisation from that person before sending to Patient Information Services (see contact details below).
Children
If you are the parent of a child under 16, you do not have an automatic right to access your child's health information, but the information will be disclosed to you if you are acting as your child's representative. Because we have a responsibility to your child as well as to you, on some occasions we may ask you about your reasons for accessing your child's information.
If you are specific about the information you want, we can respond more quickly to your request. The law allows 20 working days to process your request.
To find out more and submit requests for information
Postal address:
Clinical Records
Hauora Tairāwhiti
421 Ormond Road
GISBORNE 4010
Email: clinical.records@tdh.org.nz
Phone: (06) 8690-500