Personal health information is any verbal, written, electronic information about you, your health or health care history. This includes your name, date of birth, address, phone number, and health card number. It also includes tests, treatment and care information or personal and family information that you or your family/substitute decision-maker has told CCN or other health care persons involved in your care.

We are committed to the safety and security of personal health information. All paper records containing personal information are maintained in secure and locked files. All electronic records require passwords to access. Once the record is no longer required to be retained, the records are shredded.

The Children’s Community Network may collect, use or disclose patient personal health information for the purposes of:

• as a component of the assessment process for eligibility for specific programs and services;
• to make referrals to other agencies on behalf of or in conjunction with you;
• non-identifying information is used for administration, management strategic planning, decision making and allocation of resources;
• non-identifying information is used for reporting purposes to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services;
• as otherwise consented to by the individual and;
• as otherwise permitted, authorized or required by law.

Unless you withdraw consent, PHIPA allows the Children’s Community Network to use and disclose your personal health information for the above-mentioned reasons to our “circle of care”. In these cases, clear rules restrict how we use your information.

CCN discloses personal health information to the appropriate referral agencies, which are in our “circle of care”, after obtaining consent from the youth and/or guardian. Personal health information is disclosed to others involved in your care to ensure they have information they need to provide appropriate care.

All authorized agents and third parties are contractually obligated to protect your personal health information on behalf of the Children’s Community Network.

You can withdraw your consent for us to share some or all of your personal health information with certain people.

You can ask to review your personal health information by making a written request to the Privacy Officer. Please include details about what information you would like to review and how you would like to review it (i.e. – personal appointment or receive copy).

Yes. You have the right to correct incorrect personal health information. For example, you can correct your birth date if it is incorrect. However, you cannot correct an opinion or an observation made by a health care professional in good faith about a patient.

The Children’s Community Network is committed to resolving all concerns or complaints and encourages individuals to contact us with their concerns.

If you would like to make a comment, request further information about our privacy policies or lodge a complaint, please feel free to contact our Privacy Officer. Complaints can also be directed to the Ontario’s Information Privacy Commissioner.