Privacy, Confidentiality, and Access to Information
IWK and your personal health information
At Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program/IWK Health, we’re committed to protecting the privacy of your personal health information. We collect personal health information because it helps us to provide care. The Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program/IWK may collect personal health information from other sources, if the law allows, or with your consent. We may collect and store personal health information in different ways—such as your paper chart, electronic files, and images. Our employees and other authorized persons are allowed to collect, use, and disclose only the personal health information they need to fulfill their roles and for purposes permitted under Nova Scotia law (in particular the Personal Health information Act).
What we collect
The personal health information collected by the Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program/IWK may include:
- Your name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Health history
- Provincial health card number
- Other information about the tests, procedures, and care you received.
How we use personal health information
We use and disclose your personal health information in order to:
- treat and care for you
- help other health professionals outside our organization who are involved in your care to provide health services to you.
- receive payment from your provincial health care plan, private insurer, or other body for delivering care to you
- support the IWK’s educational activities, as we are a teaching hospital
- conduct quality improvement and risk management activities
- conduct patient satisfaction surveys
- conduct research, if you give your express consent.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- request a copy of your personal health information (complete the Release of Information Authorization Form subject to Fee Schedule)
- request a correction be made
- request a record of who has accessed your personal health information in an electronic information system
- be advised of a breach of your personal health information
- make a complaint about a concern related to your privacy (complete Complaint Form)
- request a review by the Provincial Review Officer of the IWK’s decisions or actions
For more information about your rights in relation to your personal health information, please speak to your care team or refer to our privacy pamphlet, "The Personal Health Information Act" (PL-0807)
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPOP) is provincial access and privacy legislation that applies to IWK Health. FOIPOP establishes a right of access to records in the custody or control of IWK Health for the purposes of accountability and transparency. FOIPOP balances the right to information with the protection of personal and confidential information. The FOIPOP Act does not apply when seeking access to health records. Requests for health records are subject to the Personal Health Information Protection Act, and managed by IWK’s Release of Information Office. To submit a FOIPOP request, complete the Application for Access to a Record (Form 1) with the $5 application fee and send it to IWK Health's privacy officer.
Email transmissions cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. We will not be responsible for any damages suffered by individuals as a result of the transmission and information that is sent to us or the errors or changes made in transmitted information when using the Contact Us or any email addresses published on our website.