Subpoena or Summons

Eastern Health receives a variety of subpoenas requiring:

• The production of a document or thing;
• Attendance at Court to give evidence;
• Attendance at Court to give evidence and produce documents;
• The production of employee records.

As a result of the significant amount of subpoenas received, please ensure that you have included the relevant information below to enable Eastern Health to promptly comply.

Production of medical records

A subpoena requiring production of medical records should include:

• Patient’s full name;
• Date of birth;
• Which Eastern Health site or service they attended; and
• The date or timeframe when the patient attended the site or service.

The subpoena should be addressed to:

The Proper Officer,

Eastern Health FOI Service,

Health Information Services,

Maroondah Hospital,

East Ringwood VIC 3135.

Attendance to give evidence

A subpoena requiring a staff member to attend court to give evidence should include:

• Patient’s full name;
• Date of birth;
• Which Eastern Health site or service the patient attended;
• The date or timeframe when the patient attended the site or service;
• Hearing date and venue;
• Direct contact details of the main contact on the matter.

The subpoena should be addressed to the staff member, at their usual Eastern Health work location. It should be delivered in person to the staff member at their usual Eastern Health work location, during business hours.

Before issuing a subpoena, we suggest you confirm that the individual is still employed at Eastern Health by contacting the FOI Service via Director, Workplace Relations on 9091 8826.

Please respect the clinician’s time and take all reasonable steps to minimise disruption to the clinical workplace, which will be caused by their absence to attend court.

Contact the staff member the day prior to the hearing, or latest on the day of the hearing, and confirm that attendance is still required.

This avoids clinician’s attending Court (or the Tribunal) unnecessarily, for example, where the case has been adjourned or has settled.

Please note that you may include a requirement to produce the clinician’s own notes. Should you require extensive notes, you will need to arrange a separate subpoena.

Production of employee records

A subpoena requiring production of employee records should include:

• The employee’s full name;
• Eastern Health sites or services at which the employee worked; and
• The relevant period of employment.

The subpoena should be addressed to:

Director, Workplace Relations

Eastern Health People and Culture,

Box Hill Hospital,

5 Arnold Street,

Box Hill VIC 3128.