Health Records, Privacy & Access

The information collected is used for the following purposes:

• Your patient care and treatment;
• Administration of the hospital, including internal studies for quality assurance and patient satisfaction surveys;
• Administration of the health care system, where your information is submitted to the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) and the provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care;
• Meeting legal and regulatory requirements;
• The provincial government’s goal is to provide Ontarians with an electronic health record for continuity of care. Your patient information will be stored securely on the hospital system and shared health information databases, including;
• Clinical Connect and Diagnostic Imaging Repository (DIr)
• Only authorized Health Care providers will be able to access this information on a “need to know” basis to provide patient care.

GGH is required by law to report certain pieces of information about our patients to health care agencies, including the following: the provincial Ministry of Health (billing information), the Canadian Institute for Health Information (coded discharge abstracts), Public Health and Health Canada (public health surveillance), and Ontario Health Cancer Care Registry (pathology reports). This is done to ensure the health care system is running optimally, and to conduct statistical comparisons of population health characteristics over a broad geographical range.

No, GGH does not sell patient information to drug companies or to anyone else.

At GGH only those individuals who are providing direct patient care or the provision of care to you are able to view/access your record for the purposes of providing you healthcare.

Only GGH staff involved in your care may access your patient record. All GGH staff are bound by a strict confidentiality agreement, which is signed as a condition of employment. This agreement seeks to ensure staff only access information on a need-to-know basis to do their work.

If you wish to know who accessed your health record, you can make a request to the Chief Privacy Officer or the Privacy Specialist to obtain an audit report. Our Chief Privacy Officer can be reached at 519-837-6440 extension 2273 and our privacy specialist can be reached at 519-837-6440 extension 2568.

GGH releases discharge summaries to family physicians as directed by the Most Responsible Physician during your stay at Hospital. GGH will release other information to your family physician with your consent.

No, health information is not publicly available on the Internet. Your personal health information is stored in a secure hospital information computer system and is also available to patients who are registered to access their own information via the secure patient portal ConnectMyHealth.

We require you to provide your express consent (either verbal or written) to share any of your health information with a friend or family member.  If you are an inpatient, you may give consent to share information using your Patient Privacy Code.

The patient privacy code is a numeric code that you will be given once you are an inpatient.  This code is to be shared by you with a family member/friend that you would like us to be able to share information about your care with.  The code must be provided to the health care team before information will be shared with individuals outside of the hospital’s circle of care.

If you would like a copy of your patient record at the hospital, please download and fill in our Release of Patient Records form. It describes the process, fee schedule and turnaround time.

If you are unable to give consent for a friend or family member to access your chart due to reasons of competency or consciousness, the consent decision falls to the appointed substitute decision maker such as a parent or guardian or the legally appointed power of attorney (POA) for personal care. This person is bound by law to act on your behalf, who must make decisions based on their belief of what you would wish done if you were able to decide.

All patient records are stored on site at the Hospital. The records may be stored electronically on computers, on microfilm, or the original paper documents are maintained. Portions of your records from visits to GGH are stored on the patient portal Connect My Health for those patients who are registered to access their own records via the portal.

GGH meets all legal requirements for record retention periods – the Public Hospitals Act requires health records to be maintained for a minimum of 10 years.

Provincial Legislation: Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA)

Administrative Safeguards: The hospital’s Privacy Policy governs how all Guelph General Hospital care providers and staff manage patient information. All hospital staff (employees, physicians and volunteers) must sign a Confidentiality Agreement as a condition of employment and must complete a Privacy and Confidentiality of Personal Health Information e-learning module on an annual basis. Regular audits are conducted to monitor adherence to the strict privacy and confidentiality standards.

Physical Safeguards: The hospital has a number of physical safeguards which range from locked doors to staff wearing photo identification to identify themselves as GGH employees.

Technical Safeguards: The hospital’s Information Management Department upgrades the security capabilities of the patient information systems on an ongoing basis.  The hospital has implemented access controls for staff, which are based on the staff member’s job role. This access control limits the staff members’ access to electronic health records on a need-to-know basis to perform their job duties. The hospital’s computer patient information system uses passwords to protect the system from inappropriate access from within the Hospital. Finally, a firewall is in place to protect our information systems from external unauthorized access.

You are welcome to contact either our Chief Privacy Officer at 519-837-6440 x 2273 or our Privacy Specialist at 519-837-6440 x 2568.

As a provider of health care services to the residents of the City of Guelph and surrounding area, the Hospital collects, uses and discloses personal health information (PHI) under the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality and security of all personal health information to which it is entrusted. In doing so, GGH implemented a Privacy Code Program. A privacy code number is given to every inpatient with the following instructions:

Privacy Code Instructions for Patients:

Please give this Privacy Code to one (1) spokesperson.  When the spokesperson calls us with your name and the Privacy Code, we will answer their questions about your stay in hospital.

Privacy Code Instructions for family member or friend:

Please give the patient’s name and Privacy Code to the health care team member when you call the hospital.  This allows the hospital to answer your questions about the patient’s stay in hospital. Call Guelph General Hospital: 519-837-6440

There are inherent limitations to the Hospital’s physical environment. Many areas, such as nursing stations, are in public spaces. Despite these physical limitations and the pressures of an acute care hospital setting, staff will take precautions and make every effort to discuss health information confidentially.