Privacy and Confidentiality

Ontario has a law called the Personal Health Information and Privacy Act (PHIPA) that protects your personal health information. You have the right to know how we may use and give out your personal health information and how you can get access to it. Please see the brochure for more details on our privacy practices.

Your personal health information must be kept private and secure. You or a person who can legally make decisions for you about your personal health information can use and see it. Your personal health information is shared among the people who provide you with health care. We may collect, use and give out your personal health information to others as reasonably necessary to:

• provide you with health care,
• communicate with or consult other health care providers or students in training for your health care,
• get payment for your health care, including from OHIP and private insurance, and
• report as required or permitted by law.

There are certain other circumstances where we may be required to give out some of your personal health information. If you want to know more, please see the brochure, or speak to us.

You or a person who can make decisions for you about your personal health information have the right:

• to see and get a copy of your personal health information;
• to ask us to make corrections to inaccurate or incomplete personal health information;
• to ask us not to give out your personal health information to other health care providers – we will not give out this information unless required or permitted by law to do so; and
• to be told if your personal health information is stolen, lost or improperly accessed.

There are certain exceptions to these rights – please see the Brochure for more information.

Where you give us permission to use or give out your information, you may change your mind at any time. However, sometimes the law allows or requires us to give out your information without your permission. For more information, please see the Brochure. To make your choices, please speak to our Contact Person below.

We are required to keep your personal health information safe and secure. We will get your permission before we give out your personal health information to others:

• Who want to offer you their products or services, or
• For certain research projects where your consent is required.

Please ask us or see the brochure for more details.

If you have questions or concerns about our privacy practices, please speak to our contact person:

Name: Trina Budd, Manager, Health Services
Phone Number: 613-727-4723 ext. 5509

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario is responsible for making sure that privacy law is followed in Ontario. For more information about your privacy rights, or if you are not able to resolve a problem directly with us and wish to make a complaint, contact:

Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 1A8

Toll Free: 1-800-387-0073; www.ipc.on.ca

Under the Personal Health Information Protection Act (2004), PHIPA, you (or someone acting on your behalf i.e. a lawyer) have the right to access and request a copy of your personal health information. Our Health Services team is here to help you access your health information when you need it.

Copies of Immunization Records

We are able to provide you with a copy of your immunization records free of charge. Please make an appointment with a Nurse by calling 613-727-4723 ext.7222.

Copies/Transfer of Your Medical Records

Please note that Health Services has up to 30 days to process a request in accordance with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (2004), PHIPA.

If you are no longer a patient of Health Services at Algonquin College and you would like your medical records transferred to another care provider, you can request this information by:

• Downloading and filling out the Consent for Disclosure of Personal Health Information form and bringing it to Health Services in C141 or fax it to 613-727-3166. We do not accept this form by email as this is not secure.
• Legal requests for medical records must come directly from the law office that you are working with.
• You can also pick up a printed copy of this form in C141 and meet with a Registered Nurse who can assist you in filling out the form to meet your needs. In many cases, you don’t need to transfer your entire chart. If you are not sure which records you need to access or have questions about your records, you can make an appointment to meet with a Registered Nurse by calling 613-727-4723 ext.7222.
• Once we have received your completed form, a staff member from the Health Services team will review the written request prior to transferring your medical records and may contact you if further information is needed.
• We will contact you once your records are ready. You may pick them up from the Reception staff or we can fax or mail them to your new health care provider. Please indicate your preference on the “Consent for Disclosure of Personal Health Information” form.
• Large medical records should be collected in person when possible.
• Please note that all requests for records are subject to fees. For more information on the fees, please visit the fees page.

1. To facilitate compliance with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and any and all other Federal or Provincial regulations and guidelines.
2. To establish guidelines for situations where patients and/or employees may or may not be photographed, video or audio recorded, or otherwise imaged within Algonquin College Health Services’ clinics.

1. Audio Recording: recording an individual’s voice using video recording (i.e. video cameras, cellular telephones, and/or smartphones), tape recorders, or other technologies capable of capturing audio.
2. Video Recording: recording an individual’s likeness using video recording (i.e. video cameras, cellular telephones, and/or smartphones), digital imaging (i.e. digital cameras, web cameras, and/or smartphones), or other technologies capable of capturing a video.
3. Photography: recording an individual’s likeness (i.e. image, picture) using photography (i.e. cameras, cellular telephones, and/or smartphones), digital imaging (i.e. digital cameras, web cameras, and/or smartphones), or other technologies capable of capturing an image.
   This does not include medical imaging such as MRIs, CTs, laparoscopy equipment, etc. or images taken of specimens.
4. Consent: the patient’s or patient’s legal representative’s written acknowledgment of and/or agreement to the collection, use and/or disclosure of personal health information for the purpose of treatment or health operations purposes or other reasons permitted by PHIPA.
5. Authorization: a written form executed by the patient or the patient’s legal representative that expressly provides the patient’s consent to have their image or voice recorded and to have that recording maintained as part of their medical record.
6. Employee: includes physicians, volunteers, trainees, and other persons who provide services to Algonquin College Health Services, whether or not they are paid by Algonquin College Health Services.
7. Patient: includes a patient’s guardian, attorney for personal care, representative, spouse or partner, or any other relative of the patient authorized to provide consent on behalf of an incapable patient.

Algonquin College Health Services is committed to protecting the personal health information of its patients.

Algonquin College Health Services shall take reasonable steps to protect patients, visitors, and employees by preventing unauthorized photography, video and/or audio recordings.

Algonquin College Health Services shall post this Policy and/or signs and posters addressing recordings in various locations in the Algonquin College Health Services clinics. 

1. Patients and/or visitors are not permitted to take photographs or recordings of other patients or employees without the consent of that individual.
2. Patients and/or visitors in the waiting room are not permitted to photograph or record in the waiting area of Algonquin College Health Services’ clinics.
3. To the extent an employee is aware of any inappropriate attempt to photograph or record another patient or employee, the employee must take reasonable steps to ensure that patients and employees are not photographed or recorded within Algonquin College Health Services’ clinics by any patient and/or visitors.
4. Patients and/or visitors may be asked to refrain from using their devices if they are suspected of inappropriately photographing or recording other patients or employees.
5. Patients wishing to photograph or record any component of their interaction with an Algonquin College Health Services employee must obtain that employee’s consent before doing so.

• Patients may be photographed by Algonquin College Health Services employees and/or physicians for treatment or patient care purposes. All Algonquin College Health Services employees must have the consent of a patient before photographing or recording the patient, except where permitted by law.
• Algonquin College Health Services’ employees are not permitted to photograph or record any patient or visitor for personal use, including, but not limited to:
  • Sharing a photo or recording with friends and/or co-workers; o
  • Posting on the internet using social media.
• Algonquin College Health Services employees will save, store, and dispose of all photographs and recordings securely.
• Any photograph or recording made relating to a patient’s treatment and/or patient care should be recorded in the patient’s medical record.
• Appropriate information security measures will be taken to encrypt and securely transmit photographs and/or recordings of patients.
• Photographs and/or recordings will not be stored on the device (i.e. camera) or on unencrypted memory cards.
• Photographs and/or recordings must be deleted from the device on which they were captured in a timely manner, within no more than two (2) days of the photograph and/or recording being taken.

1. A patient’s consent is not required for general security surveillance of public areas.
2. Photography or recording for health care operations purpose (i.e. quality assurance) may only be done with the patient’s consent.
3. Algonquin College Health Services may permit law enforcement to photograph or record a patient where the patient consents and where the physician responsible for the patient agrees that the patient is medically stable.
4. Algonquin College Health Services may disclose photographs and/or recordings to law enforcement where required by law.

1. Algonquin College Health Services will not release photographs and/or recordings without the consent of the patient unless the disclosure is within the circle of care for treatment purposes or is otherwise permitted or required by law.
2. Patients wishing to obtain copies of information contained in their medical records, including photographs or recordings, should speak with an Algonquin College Health Services employee about the appropriate procedure for doing so.