Freedom of Information

The vast majority of FOI requests received by Eastern Health are from patients or their representatives seeking access to their medical records. This may include a request for information of past and current illnesses, operations or procedures performed, pathology and radiology results, or medications prescribed.

In some cases, information may be withheld if it is exempt under the Freedom of Information legislation, for example, sensitive information about or from other person.

A small number of requests are received for other documents, such as policies, standards or procedures.

A lot of information about Eastern Health is publicly available on this website.

Eastern Health holds records for the following sites and services:

Angliss Hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully
Box Hill Hospital in Box Hill
Healesville Hospital and Yarra Valley Health
Maroondah Hospital in Ringwood East
Peter James Centre in Burwood East
Spectrum
Turning Point
Wellington House
Wantirna Health
Yarra Ranges Health
Transition care
Blackburn Public Surgical Centre

How to apply

For an FOI request to be valid, please ensure it is in writing, clear and the application fee is paid, unless claiming financial hardship. If your request is not deemed valid, the FOI officer will contact you within 21 days and outline why the request is not valid.

Requests must be in writing.

For access to medical records—complete Eastern Health's FOI Application Form,(DOC, 216KB), and include any of the additional documents that are required (such as photo identification and legal documents).

For access to other documents held by Eastern Health—write a letter clearly describing the requested documents.

If you are seeking someone else’s records, you will need to provide supporting evidence that you have authority to act. For example:

Written consent or authority;
Evidence of guardianship/ power of attorney;
Tribunal or Court Orders;
Death Certificate.

Requests must be clear

When making your request, please clearly describe the information you are seeking access to. Consider including:

Which sites or services your request relates too;
Whether you can include a date range for your request;
If you are seeking access to a particular type of document, for example, discharge summaries, pathology results, medication list, etc.

If you are not clear enough, FOI staff will contact you to clarify the scope of your request, but this may result in processing delays.

Requests must include the application fee

Requests must include payment of the application fee which is not refundable (currently $31.80). The Application fee can be paid by:

bank transfer
cheque (made payable to Eastern Health)
credit card
cash (Payable at cashiers at Maroondah, Angliss and Box Hill)

If you are unable to pay the fee, please provide evidence that payment of the fee would cause financial hardship to you.

For example, a copy of a current health care card or pension card, or a statutory declaration outlining why the application fee would cause you financial hardship.

Other fees

In addition to the application fee, access charges may apply. The Applicant will be notified of the access charges which must be paid before you access the document.

Access charges include:

CD	$10.00
Photocopying	20 cents per page
Search fee (not applicable if requesting own records)	$28.85 per hour or part thereof
Viewing record	$5.95 per quarter hour (under supervision)

Amendment of your personal records

For amendment of your personal records, write a letter or email clearly describing how the information is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading, and specifying the requested amendments.

No application fee is required.

How long it takes

Where a valid FOI request for documents is received, a decision must be sent to the Applicant within 30 days, or 45 days if the FOI officer needs to consult with other services or people. Longer timeframes can apply if the Applicant agrees.

The decision letter will include the additional access charges payable. Access charges need to be paid within 28 days, or the application will lapse.

If any additional charges apply (such as photocopying costs), the Applicant will be notified, and payment may be required before the request is finalised.

Once payment for access charges is received, the records will be sent to the Applicant via registered post or via a secure electronic document transfer system.

Amendment of personal records

For requests for amendment of personal records, generally a decision must be sent within 30 days.

Review and Complaint Rights

If the Applicant is not satisfied with the outcome of the FOI application, they should contact the FOI officer to discuss this further.

If the Applicant is still not satisfied with the outcome of these discussions, they may seek formal review. The request must be made within 28 days of receiving the decision letter.

There are two review options available:

Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC)

Phone: 1800 006 842 or 1300 00 OVIC

Email: enquiries@ovic.vic.gov.au

Website: https://ovic.vic.gov.au/

Address: PO Box 24274 Melbourne, Victoria, 3001 Australia

Can consider all requests for formal review.

Also consider documents that do not exist, or where they could not be located. In this case, complaint must be made in writing within 60 days of receiving the decision letter.

Health Complaints Commissioner (HCC)

Phone: 1300 582 113

Email: hcc@hcc.vic.gov.au

Website: www.hcc.vic.gov.au

Address: Level 26 570 Bourke Street Melbourne, Victoria, 3000

Australia

More information and contact details

Please return FOI applications via email, fax or post to the Eastern Health FOI Service:

Email: foi@easternhealth.org.au

Fax: (03) 9871 1653

Post: EH FOI Service Health Information Services

Maroondah Hospital PO BOX 135 Ringwood East VIC 3135

Should you have any questions, please contact the FOI Service on (03) 9871 3170 or email foi@easternhealth.org.au

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Freedom of Information