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Start Here Guide:
Your Right to Privacy, Client Privacy with Lansdowne

Understanding your right to privacy, and guides for sharing information.

Privacy legislation protects your right to:  

  • Consent to how your information will be used and shared. In order for your consent to be valid, you must be given enough information for your consent to be well‐informed. We encourage you to ask any questions you need to so that you understand how staff will use and protect your information.

  • Staff will talk with other Lansdowne staff on your team in order to provide service and treatment. This is implied when you are referred to Lansdowne. You may withhold this consent by telling us if anyone should be excluded.

  • Withhold or withdraw consent for information sharing, except in specific circumstances where disclosure is legally required under the Child & Family Services Act or ordered by a court.

  • Provide consent in verbal or written form. 

  • Ask to access your child’s electronic record and the information in it.

  • Ask that a correction be made to the record.

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

  • All Lansdowne staff are required by law to protect the information you share in strict confidence. We must make sure that you understand why certain information is being shared, who it is being shared with, and get your agreement for information sharing before any confidential information is used or shared. 

  • Lansdowne staff will only collect the information we need to do our jobs. 

  • If you do not consent to share confidential information your wishes will be respected, except when that places someone at increased risk of significant harm. Everyone has a ‘duty to report’ under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act. 

  • If a limitation is placed on consent for information sharing, it cannot restrict recording of personal/ health information that is required by law or established professional standards. 

  • Lansdowne staff will make sure that information shared is as accurate and current as possible. 

  • Lansdowne will give you access to the information contained in the electronic record, upon request. 

  • Lansdowne will comply with relevant privacy legislation. This includes having a Privacy Plan that is available upon request, and online at www.lansdownecentre.ca/privacy-policy-lansdowne  

Lansdowne requires consents to be completed for privacy purposes. Upon intake and/or service you will be asked to provide your consent for:

  • Information Sharing and Collection of Personal Information: provides Lansdowne consent to communicate with others i.e. physicians, schools. Typically, the following information may be collected and stored within the electronic record and shared with the professionals working with your child and family:

    • Contact and Demographic information

    • Birth and Developmental History

    • Interview and Assessment information

    • Relevant reports such as Diagnostic, School and Transition reports

    • Care Plans

    • Assessment Reports 

    • Progress Notes

 

  • Use of Email Communications, Service Related: electronic mail (email) is used to provide general communications i.e. home programs, appointment times and dates, resources. Emailing of personal health information, including reports, is prohibited.

 

  • Use of Email Communications, E-News Items: email is used to share new or added services, program opportunities, training and workshop events, family engagement socials and fouundation fundraising events and activities. Failure to consent to E-News could impair your awareness of Lansdowne events and resources. You can find notices of upcoming events and news at Caregiver Corner in each Lansdowne site.

Uses and Disclosures of Personal Health Information

  • We use and share personal health information to:

  • Assess, treat and care for clients and families safely and efficiently while giving high quality service

  • Allow us to efficiently advise of treatment options and follow-up on treatment and care

  • Communicate with other providers involved in care

  • Plan, administer and manage our internal operations including booking, confirming and scheduling appointments, completing statistics

  • Conduct risk management activities

  • Conduct quality improvement activities, such as sending satisfaction surveys

  • Teach and demonstrate on an anonymous basis

  • Comply with legal and regulatory requirements

  • Comply generally with the law

YOUR CHOICES

Clients/ parents/legal guardians may get and/or ask for correction of their personal health records, or withhold or withdraw their consent for some of the above uses and disclosures, by getting in touch with us and we will explain what the result of that decision might mean, and the way it will be done . Please note legal exceptions apply.

 

Information may be accessed by regulatory authorities under the terms of the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) for the purposes of the various colleges of employees here at Lansdowne fulfilling their mandate under the RHPA, and for the defense of a legal issue.

 

When Lansdowne gets special requests, such as a request from a new source, we will get in touch with you for permission to release information. We may also advise you if such a release is appropriate.

Important Information

We take steps to protect your personal health information from theft, loss and unauthorized access, copying, changes, use, disclosure and disposal. We conduct audits and complete investigations to monitor and manage our privacy compliance. We take steps to ensure that everyone who performs services for us protect client privacy and only use personal health information for the purposes for which clients have given consent. We comply with provincial privacy legislation by having a Privacy Plan that is available upon request.

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