HOSPITAL AND HEALTH BOARDS ACT 2011 - SECT 146 Disclosure to person who has sufficient interest in health and welfare of person

HOSPITAL AND HEALTH BOARDS ACT 2011 - SECT 146

146 Disclosure to person who has sufficient interest in health and welfare of person

(1) A designated person or prescribed health professional may disclose confidential information if the confidential information—

(a) is about the condition of the person to whom the information relates and is communicated in general terms; or

Example of communicated in general terms—

A switchboard operator or other staff member at a hospital discloses that a person’s condition is ‘satisfactory’.

(b) is communicated by a health professional, under the recognised standards of the relevant health profession, to a person who, in the health professional’s reasonable opinion, has a sufficient personal or professional interest in the health and welfare of the person to whom the information relates.

Example of persons to whom a health professional may communicate confidential information—

• a spouse, parent or child of the person

• another relative of the person

• a friend of the person who has a close personal relationship with the person and a personal interest in the person’s welfare

• an adult who is providing home care to the person who has a chronic condition or a disability

• a general practitioner who has had responsibility for the care and treatment of the person

(2) For subsection (1) (b) , if the person to whom the confidential information relates is deceased, another person has a sufficient personal interest in the health and welfare of the deceased person if, in the health professional’s reasonable opinion, the other person would have had a sufficient interest while the deceased person was alive.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to the disclosure of confidential information to a person if the person to whom the confidential information relates asks that the confidential information not be disclosed generally or to that person.