This information is to help you understand what happens to your
personal health information when you are a patient at GMCH
Privacy Notice To Patients
Your request for health care services gives Groves Memorial Community Hospital permission to use your personal information for specific, related purposes. Groves Memorial Community Hospital collects, uses, shares and keeps your personal information for the following purposes:
1. For Your Own Health Care and Treatment
Designated individuals who reside within a "circle of care" and require access to your clinical information to deliver treatment may include:
• All physicians involved in your care
• Nurses and health professionals (i.e. dieticians, physiotherapists, discharge planners)
• Technologists in diagnostic departments (i.e. laboratory, radiology)
• Clerical/administrative staff responsible for capturing, coding, filing, retrieving and otherwise managing medical records
2. For Running the Hospital
Your personal information could be used for studies, including patient satisfaction surveys, to show how we are doing and to help us do our jobs better, to help in planning for future patient care, and making sure we treat you in the most efficient, effective and safest way we can. This helps us to train and make sure that our staff and students follow best practice.
3. Ministry of Health & Long Term Care
The Ontario Ministry of Health requires hospitals to send information on each patient, when they leave the hospital, to the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI). This is so that the Ministry of Health can gather statistics to help them assess the health care system. Information is also given to the Ontario Health Insurance Program (OHIP) that pays for your hospital services.
4. Meeting Legal and Regulatory Requirements
Sometimes, it is the law for the Hospital to give out personal health information. Here are examples of the kinds of information that is given to other agencies:
• Suspected child abuse cases to the Children’s Aid Society; and,
• Contagious diseases, such as sexually transmitted diseases, to the Public Health Unit.
5. Fundraising
Unless otherwise specified the hospital may use your information, name and address only, for raising money to improve our healthcare services and programs.
6. Health Care Registries and Statistics For Research
Sometimes, it is the law for patient personal information to be given to health agencies and registries. For example:
• If you have had cancer – to the Ontario Cancer Registry
• If you have had heart disease – to the Ontario Cardiac Care Network
• To the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) an Ontario health research agency.
These health registries may use your personal health information for statistics or research.
Express Consent
There are other times when the Hospital will ask you for your express consent to use your personal information for specific purposes. This means you will be asked for your permission before your personal information can be shared with others. For example:
(a) to share your health information with your family, friends or other specific people.
(b) for research, for example taking part in a clinical or health study.
(c) For disclosing personal health information to another health care custodian for a purpose other than providing or assisting in providing health care:
• The Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP);
• The HIV Treatment Network;
• The Canadian Joint Replacement Registry of CIHI.
Privacy Policy
Your personal information will only be used in compliance with the Hospital’s Privacy Policy; click here to see the full policy.
If you wish to learn more about how your personal information will be used and the security measures being taken to keep your information safe and confidential, please ask your health care provider. Your personal information will not be used for any other purpose without your consent.
The Hospital has guidelines that tell us how to safely keep or to destroy your personal information. Please ask if you wish to know more about this. Also, the Hospital can give you a record of how your information has been used.
If you wish, you may ask to see your own personal information. You have the right to amend it if it is not correct. Your health care provider may refer you to the Hospital’s chief privacy officer (see below for contact information).
Questions and Complaints
If you have a question or complaint about the privacy of your personal information, please contact our Chief Privacy Officer:
Health Information Services Department
Phone: (519) 843-2010 extension 213
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it